


Bullies, Interns, and Secret Things

by CuriousClockwork



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Anxiety, Avengers Tower, Brief Refernce to Blood, Bullying, But Also Kind Of Sneaky, Crushes, F/M, Family, Family-like Feels, Field Trip, Fluff, Gen, Humor, I will add tags as I go, Injury, Interns & Internships, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Not Beta Read, Peter is best boy, Peter's SI field trip, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Protective Tony Stark, School Trip, Secrets, Sound Anxiety, Sporadic Cursing, Stark Industries, The Avengers Are Good Bros, anxiety attack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-07-06 13:12:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 65,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15886749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CuriousClockwork/pseuds/CuriousClockwork
Summary: Two and half years have passed since Peter Parker donned the Spider-man suit and made a name for himself. A lot has happened to him and the other Avengers in that time and as the middle of Peter's senior school year arrives, Midtown High School gets a surprise invitation for their senior students to take a tour of Stark Industries.Yes, this is the classic "field trip to S.I." trope that everyone has already done. I just want to hop on the bandwagon because why not. Sue me. Please don't actually do that.





	1. Losers Lies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As the summary said, I am a sucker for this trope and just really wanted to put my own two cents in. I just really wanted to see how I would write this concept and thought it might be fun to post because why. I am also apparently not creative enough to come up with my own story or concept, so I wound up doing something that has already been done 100 times already.
> 
> I have never read the comics and have no idea if teachers have ever been named and what kind of classmate's (besides the obvious) comic-book Peter had. And so, all names I use for those characters are made up.
> 
> Hopefully someone will enjoy this and thank you for checking this fan-fiction out.

**Posted September 3, 2018 … Revised November 22, 2018**

* * *

An inconspicuous black car began to pull up to the curb a block away from Midtown School of Science and Technology.

With it being the beginning of a new school week, the students that walked by along the sidewalk were more sluggish in their pace than normal. Rather than pay attention to an average looking car on the road, they were more focused on not stumbling due to their grogginess.

Those same students continued to pay no attention to the vehicle as it finally came to a stop and Peter Parker was all too thankful for that.

Once the foot-way was briefly cleared, Peter hurriedly grabbed his backpack and opened the rear door of the car. He shuffled out, tossed out a quick, "Thanks Happy," to the man in the driver's seat, and firmly closed the door before hopping up the curb and joining the mass of students.

Peter eventually slung his backpack over a shoulder and even jogged a few steps ahead, hoping to put a bit more distance between him and the car.

It may have been a very simple thing to be worried about, but Peter was always embarrassed at the thought of someone spotting him getting out of the back of the vehicle. Teenagers usually sat up front where it made them feel older, yet Peter still sat in the back. He was technically being chauffeured around so it made sense for the young adult to be there, but he always felt uncomfortable being pampered in such a way.

Then again it was Happy Hogan that tended to drop him off and pick him up.

The older man was far from being Peter's personal chauffeur, and thus did not treat him like some pampered brat, but Tony Stark always insisted that Happy be the one to help Peter commute to school. The young hero was not completely sure why Mr. Stark always insisted, but Peter made sure that he regularly thanked both men whenever he was being taken back and forth between the Avengers Tower and his school.

Peter was at least thankful that Happy did not take him every day – he only drove Peter back and forth at Tony's insisting. If Peter happened to be going to and from home, then Peter gladly took the bus or subway.

And as usual, Happy's impeccable driving had Peter arriving to school on time with a few minutes to spare before the first bell rang.

Arriving at the front gate, Peter stepped onto the school grounds with a sigh of relief at beating the bell. When he eventually made his way in and reached his locker, the teen was met by his best friend Edward "Ned" Leeds.

They greeted each other with one of their many nerd handshakes and easily ignored a few snickers from some girls nearby.

Peter finally opened his locker and began picking out which textbooks he would be needing for the day.

"'Sup Peter. How was your weekend?" Ned asked at he leaned against the wall of lockers.

"Same old. Though I did learn a new trick from the web," Peter said with a cheesy grin as he tossed a look to the other teen.

Ned gave his own grin in return and even let out a soft snicker.

The two of them loved to talk about Peter and his secret identity but knowing that they were in a building full of teenagers who loved nothing more than to eavesdrop on anything within earshot, the two friends had been quick to start talking in code.

It was not much a 'secret' code, but it still worked. Whenever they fell into such conversations, they always talked about the internet or the 'web' as they called it even if saying such a term was outdated. It was a play on words and the two nerds loved using it even though Aunt May and Mr. Stark had both rolled their eyes the day they each learned about the phrase.

"Really?" Ned asked with an excited tone, "You'll have to show me later."

"Of course I will. Promise."

With that, Peter stuffed the last book into this backpack, slammed his locker shut, and the two headed for their first class just as the warning bell rang.

.

* * *

.

Due to his senior status and because he was a student at one of the more technological schools in the New York area, Peter had a bit of a different schedule than other high schoolers.

With Midtown having a more scientific focus to their studies, Peter and his fellow seniors were able to have a full class schedule dedicated to their field of study for the whole year. Granted, it only took up the second half of each school day, but it was quite the jump start to begin learning their field of study.

In Peter's and Ned's case, they had a class that was three hours long that was dedicated to anything and everything about engineering.

The class was a decent size with fifteen students enrolled in total. It was by no means a large class, but neither was it small. It was however, a class where everyone knew each other for better or worse. Most knew each other fairly well, if not on a first name basis at least, and all were friendly with each other for the most part.

That way, when the students had to present their projects or pair up during assignments, no one was a stranger to each other.

The two friends had been looking forward to their senior year just so that they could finally take this three-hour course but had been disappointed to learn that a fellow student by the name of Eugene "Flash" Thompson was in the class as well.

Flash had mellowed out slightly in all the years that Peter had unfortunately known him, but at his core, Flash was still an arrogant and selfish individual who believed himself to always be the smartest and greatest person in the room.

When Peter and Ned arrived to the class after lunch, they were greeted by Flash at the door.

"Well look who it is," he said as he folded his arms and leaned against the doorway.

"Flash," Peter mumbled a greeting, trying to get past the other. Flash shot an arm out to prevent Peter from entering the classroom.

"Watch your tone there, Penis. I could misinterpret how you said my name just then, you know. I might have to do something about that to make sure you don't get an attitude with me." Peter secretly rolled his eyes at those words but knew better than to say anything to antagonize the other anymore than he already was.

Ned stepped in then, "C'mon Flash, move will ya? We just want to get to our seats before Mr. Johnson gets here."

"What was that Dead? You should shut your trap or else I just might have to lump you in with your pal here."

That was a nickname that Flash had dubbed Ned with: Ned the Dead. It was by no means creative nor funny but neither Ned nor Peter were bothered by the name for that very reason.

Ned was just about to give a retort but was stopped by a weathered hand resting on his shoulder. He, Peter, and Flash all looked to see Mr. Johnson standing behind Ned.

Mr. Johnson was an older man that had white hair with the classic receding hairline. He was on the tall and thin side, with a chin hidden by a wispy beard. He was considered a fair teacher by most who was both friendly with his students and strict with them if need be.

"What seems to be going on here, gentlemen?" He asked the three of them with a curious look on his face though his bushy eyebrows were lowered in suspicion.

"Nothing sir," Flash said as he quickly put his arm down that had been blocking the entrance to the classroom. "Just joking around."

Peter kept quiet while Ned shook his head as he looked away. Mr. Johnson looked at all three of them with another expression on his face before he directed Ned towards the door with the hand that was still on the teens shoulder. He looked towards Peter and Flash then, corralling all three of them into the classroom. "Well then why don't you three grace us with your presence in the classroom so that I can get started teaching, hm?"

All three gave a sheepish nod as they fell into their seats. A few classmates spared them a glance or two before everyone finally looked to the front of the room at the sound of Mr. Johnson dumping a stack of papers on his desk. Most knew the history between the three of them, so it was not surprising to see a few curious eyes taking a peek at them even after their teacher formally began class.

"Good afternoon class," the older man said.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Johnson," everyone said in varying degrees of volume.

"First things first, I've got an announcement to make."

Students answered back with groans and moans. Whenever a teacher said those words, it usually meant that they were going to assign a project or something that included a presentation.

Mr. Johnson's famous glare silenced the class right away. "As I was saying, I have an announcement. But don't worry you young pupils, it is not something to torture your souls with. Instead, it is about this year's fieldtrip which will be in a few weeks. I believe that is something that would capture your interest?"

Those words brought a few murmurs throughout the rows of students as they turned to one another, wondering where they might be going. Ned and Peter traded a grin at the thought of where their senior fieldtrip might take them.

Another stare and loud cough from their teacher had the class quieting down once more.

"Well, apparently the school pulled a few strings, and it looks like we will be taking a tour of Stark Industries this year."

The eager atmosphere in the room seemed to explode with excitement and anticipation about what they might see at the building in a few weeks' time. Talking soon filled the room and Mr. Johnson's attempts at gaining their attention was lost as the young eighteen-year-olds were too lost in their thoughts. A fond smile fell on his face though as he saw how excited his students were at the news.

Ned, holding his own excited grin, tuned to Peter. His smile shifted slightly at the state of his best friend.

Peter was slumped over his seat with his forehead cupped in a palm. His other hand was occupied with the desk as a finger repeatedly tapped the surface, giving away how anxious he was. That was when Ned remembered what is was exactly what his best friend did that would involve Stark Industries.

"Hey Peter, you alright?" Ned whispered.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I mean, I guess I'm alright."

"You guess?"

"Well, it's just weird. I mean, I'm going to be taking a field trip to a place that I go to at least three times a month. And that's not if I am on the web."

"Yeah, I get it. But you've never gotten to see  _everything_ right? Try think of it that way. If we get to take a formal tour of the place, maybe you'll get to do and see things that  _he_ probably doesn't think to show you."

Peter lifted his head at those words. His eyebrows shifted around in consideration until a smile finally grew on his face. "Dude, you're right! At least maybe I can do something that I haven't done there before." Another thought came to Peter however and the smile slipped from his face again. "But what about everyone there? What if we run into them or they crash the party and do something embarrassing?"

Ned gave a weak shrug at that, having no answer. There was a pause in their talking though as they made sure that the room was still buzzing with conversation before they continued speaking. No one had been listening to them speak and the both were thankful for that at least.

"What about if you just don't tell everyone that you'll be there for a school thing?"

"Huh, that might work."

"Worth a shot, right?"

"Right." Peter gave a nod to end their discussion and right then, Mr. Johnson was finally able to gain everyone's attention to finally start the class for the day.

.

* * *

.

The three hour class seemed to pass in a breeze and with the last few minutes before the final bell for the day was to ring, Mr. Johnson handed the permission slips out to every student, with the obvious reminder that if the slip was not signed by a parent or a guardian, they would not be able to attend the tour.

"Don't forget that they  _need_ to be signed. And I would prefer for them to be handed in no later than next Friday. Don't wait until the last minute, you hear? We need to be able to know who will and will not be going ahead of time," Mr. Johnson said those last words on the matter and with that, the end of the school day arrived, and the final bell let the students start to filter out of the building.

Peter and Ned found themselves walking back to their lockers to store their books for the day.

"This is exciting, huh Peter?"

"I guess so," Peter said with a shrug, "if you, ya know, aren't there almost every other week."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But can't you at least be excited for me?" Ned asked with a crooked smile on his face as he filled his locker.

Peter smiled back. "Of course, I am. It's just now I'm probably going to be overthinking this trip and be worried nonstop."

"Why would you be worried? Dude, you should be freaking happy! Now you can prove to Flash that you really are an intern there. Plus, I thought I just told you in class that you don't need to be telling everyone at the tower what's going on."

"I agree with not telling them, Ned, but I'm still not technically an intern. I just do stuff on the web with them," Peter reminded the other.

His eye grew large at the realization, "Oh, right."

Peter gave a small laugh and a shake of his head at the antics of best friend. The two of them then closed their lockers and made their way to the front of the school.

Once outside, the friends spotted Flash leaning against the front step railings. He spotted them as well and gave a leer and mocking wave.

"Hey there, Penis. Thought I might get the chance to see you before my ride got here," Flash said as he tried to look casual, leaning against the rough brick rails.

"What happened to your car, finally crash it?" Ned asked.

"Ha, ha. Real funny there, Dead. Real funny. It had to get a check up if you must know. Just waiting for my  _butler_  to come and get me."

Peter and Ned rolled their eyes simultaneously and even if Flash noticed the look, he said nothing as the apparent car he had been waiting for arrived. Instead of heading to the car right away, Flash turned back to the friends to say his piece.

"Anyways, Parker, I thought it would be fun for you to realize that with us taking this fieldtrip, I get to out you for being a liar about being an intern to Tony Stark."

"Flash, I never said I was an intern to  _Mr. Stark._ I just said that I was an intern at Stark Industries. There's a difference."

"Whatever. I know what you were really trying to say when you first told us that lie. Either way, we'll get to see the truth in three weeks. Later!" With that, Flash jumped from the wall he had leaned against and headed for the car. He slipped inside the front passenger door, causing Peter to chuckle lightly at the comparison of what Peter had went through just this morning. The smile faded however, at the realization of Flash's words.

As much as he would never say it out loud, Flash was right.

Once they were at Stark Tower for the tour, Flash might try everything to get the 'lie' to come out. There was a whole bunch of things that would go wrong with this field trip that would affect Peter for better or worse.

He gave a sigh at those thoughts as well as seeing the black car that he had begun to easily recognize. Looks like Mr. Stark wanted him at the tower for the evening.

"Looks like I just got a ride too," Peter said as he turned to Ned, "Sorry about that. I promise to come to your house tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah, I get it. Have fun being all hero-y. But you better keep that promise Pete or else I'll get May to make me cookies and you will get nothing!"

Laughing at those words but knowing they were one hundred percent true, Peter shuffled his backpack higher up his shoulder as he walked down the school's front steps and entered the back door that Happy held open for him. He still did not like having a  _door_  be opened for him – he could easily do that himself. Peter was however, happy to note that he and Ned had been one of the last students to leave the school, meaning that there were not a lot of people around to see Peter get into a mysterious car like he had.

As they began making their way towards the tower, Peter remembered to take out his phone to text May the change of plans. He had forgotten one time and had gotten an earful for a good hour when he finally made it home that day.

.

* * *

.

Peter spent that evening as Spider-man, helping Iron Man and Black Widow do a small stunt somewhere in Eastern Canada. It was nothing big, but Peter had been all to happy to be included in it as a fellow hero.

When they finally got back to the tower, it was so late that it was nearing early morning. Before he planned to head home, Peter decided to ask Tony about the fieldtrip and see if he had known about it ahead of time.

"Oh, that? Of course I did, kid," Tony said with a casual tone as he settled onto one of the many couches in the towers main living room. He rested an arm across the back and patted it in invitation for Peter to join him.

"Mr. Stark! Why would you do that to me," Peter whined as he flopped down nearby. "My poor teenage self-esteem is going to be ruined because of this trip. I know you – if you're there, you're going to try and embarrass me any at any chance you get."

"First of all, spider-boy, I can't believe I still have to remind you to call me Tony even after two years." Peter halfheartedly said he wasn't spider- _boy_  but Tony ignored him and continued, "And second, I do not embarrass you!"

"Oh, yes you do Mr. – I mean Tony. Not a lot, I can admit, but I know that if I show up here as some regular kid on a school tour looking fascinated by all your fancy technology, that you'll try your hardest to tease me. I mean, it's either that or you're just going to walk right up to me in the middle of trip and saying something to out me as an intern here which, by the way, we both know is just a front."

"Wait, what?" Tony interrupted as he gave a faint frown in what Peter assumed was confusion.

"Uh, what?" Peter asked in reply, not knowing what the other was specifically referring to.

"That last thing you just said, Peter. You're not my intern?"

"Well last time I checked, no I wasn't. Not technically at least. I mean, I'm not trying to bring this up now so that I can be one, I was just talking about how that was a lie we came up with so that I could go with you to Germany. It's the alibi we've used ever since then, ya know."

"Oh. I guess you're right on that one. Huh, well maybe we should fix that," Tony said with a satisfied and confident smile on his face as he relaxed once more into the couch.

"Wait, really?"

"Well why the hell not? You do the work that the other interns do. You probably do it better too  _and_  you do hero stuff on top of it! If anyone deserves the position, it's you, Peter."

"Really, Mr. Stark? I mean, that would be totally awesome if you did that. But I don't want to be one of those people that tried to nag you about something and you just do it to shut them up and not really mean it and-"

"Okay there pipsqueak," Tony interrupted the rambling as he put a hand on Peter's shoulder to calm him down. "There you go again, calling me 'Mr. Stark'. And what are you talking about, Pete? You are one of the most kind and earnest kids I know. You have a good head on your shoulders and giving you the actual job as my intern won't really change anything anyways. It's not like I'm going to make you work with other people. You're stuck with me, kid."

The smile that Peter gave Tony at those words was blinding.

Though they were far and in-between, Peter occasionally tried to hug Tony in appreciation for what the teen would consider a big deal.

Finally having an internship at Stark Industries was one of those big deals.

Peter did not see it, being shorter than the older man and thus tucked underneath Tony's chin, but the genius gave an open smile of his own. Letting his head rest atop Peter's, he happily reciprocated the embrace that the younger hero started.

"And don't you worry about doing all that boring paperwork." Tony said after he was released from the hug.

"You mean the internship papers that I should fill out?"

"Yeah. I'll get it handled. We both don't want to waste precious hours filling out all that garbage when we can actually be doing stuff that would be defined as internship work."

Peter gave a excited giggle at that, "Did you just call your own internship program garbage?"

"First of all, yes I did but second, I was only talking about the paperwork you little punk. I know you know what I meant! Eh, you should start heading out of here kid. Don't want you loosing anymore sleep than you already have tonight. Going all the way to Canada and back all in one night is exhausting for anyone but you're a teenager who should be getting at least eight or nine hours of sleep a night."

"You really think I get that much sleep on my own? I doubt you did when you were my age."

"Yeah but I'm an adult now so that means you have to listen to my words of wisdom. And I say go to sleep!"

A yawn seemed to escape Peter then, as though knowing it could be known now. "Yeah, okay, fine. Say hey to Pepper for me, will ya?" He got up from the couch and headed to the elevator where his backpack was sitting.

"Sure thing, kid."

Tony got up to follow the teen as Peter got in the elevator to head back down to the employee parking lot.

"Should I get Happy to take you back?"

"Nah, I got this. I like to take the subway sometimes."

Tony gave a hesitant nod before he finally bid the spider-ling goodnight and the elevator doors closed.

When Peter eventually got home around 1:30 in the morning, he found his aunt with crossed arms and frown.

She gave him an earful as said her piece about how she was not pleased to see her nephew come home so late on a school night. Once she vented her anger however, May still made sure to greet him with a kiss on the cheek and warm hug as usual.

He eventually told her the good news and May gave a grin and gave her nephew another hug with a surprising amount of strength.

With greater strength on his side, Peter easily lifted his aunt to spin her in a small circle before putting her down. An eager grin overtook his youthful face at her reaction to the news.

"I am so happy for you Peter. Becoming an intern for S.I. was something that you had always dreamt about. I know back then, when Mr. Stark first came here it was a lie for my sake, but now knowing that you got the real deal is priceless. I can only hope that this will open a lot of doors for you into so many different careers and opportunities."

"Thanks Aunt May. You have no idea how much it means for me to hear you say stuff like that."

"Oh, Peter," she said as she cupped his cheek in her hand, "I love you like my own. I know you know that, but sometimes I feel like I need to remind myself. I know your parents would be happy with where you are and what you're doing. And Ben! Goodness, he would probably have a field day with this news. You know him and technology. He couldn't tell the difference between a phone and a television remote. But I know he would be just as proud of you that you finally became an intern to the one place you really wanted to be."

Peter placed his own hand atop hers. "Thank you," he whispered. May wiped the single tear that had escaped, and she gave him another tight hug which he eagerly fell into.

With the tender moment passed, Peter remembered the other event that had happened earlier at school. He fished out the permission slip for the fieldtrip and showed it to her with a silly grin on his face.

May gave her own laugh at the inside joke, she signed it with a wink to Peter, reminding him to behave and to make a good first impression at such an important place. Peter laughed along with her.

He thanked her for signing the paper regardless and after that, the three weeks leading up the trip seemed to pass by in the blink of an eye.

.

* * *

.

The week of the fieldtrip eventually arrived and the week itself seemed to pass by in a breeze until finally, it was Friday.

Since their high school was specifically dedicated to the sciences, it was determined that all seniors would be able to take the fieldtrip at the same time. Each class would simply be touring different parts of the tower at the same, overlooked by their teacher and a guide. Peter and Ned were even more thankful to be in the same class together for it meant that they were in the same group.

It was unfortunate however, that their third friend, Michelle "M.J." Jones, was in a different class and thus a different tour. The three were glad to learn that everyone would be regrouping for lunch so it was one positive thing to look forward to in the middle of the day-long tour.

Those thoughts and plans were a long way off however as it was only the beginning of the day and Peter and his fellow classmates were still currently on school grounds.

The first bell rang like usual and the seniors of Midtown High School loitered around the side of the premises where the buses arrived every morning and evening to drop off and pick up students. The buses were being used for another purpose today and thus were still running, ready to take the excited seniors to their destination. Eventually, all the teachers and volunteer chaperones arrived and began splitting off the classes by attendance sheets to make sure that everyone accounted for.

Once that was out of the way, the students were then separated and directed to the various buses, which were soon filled with talkative and loud students who were very excited to be away from school for a day.

Fieldtrips were always a treat for students no matter how old they were, and everyone seemed to be even rowdier considering the destination.

A few minutes later, the school buses finally departed and headed off towards the Stark Industries tower. The tower was quite a ways away, yet for most of the ride, the looming building could always be seen in the distance, keeping the students excited and curious.

Peter and Ned had managed to steal a seat closer to the back of the bus and for the first couple of minutes they were lost in their own little world as they watched a few videos on Peter's phone.

They were interrupted when a head peaked over the seat in front of them and the two were greeted to the sight of Flash staring down at them with a nasty smile plastered across his face. Ned gave a groan once he realized who it was that interrupted them while Peter let out a soft sigh.

Flash must have heard Ned because he glared at the teen before he turned back to Peter, clearly having picked his victim for the day.

"So, Penis, want to tell us anything about the place before we get there? You  _are_ an intern after all."

Giving a sigh at the realization that this ride might be longer than he previously thought, Peter replied, "Not really, Flash. I've never taken a tour of the place."

"No tour, huh? Wouldn't it make sense for new interns to take a tour of the place so that they know what's up? Like, letting the newbie learn the ropes so that they don't burn the place down? How come you lucked out then?"

"I don't know, Flash. Why don't you ask Mr. Stark himself?"

"Wow, Parker, growing a backbone, are you? Or are you just trying to make your fake job seem more real by trying to dodge such an easy question. Hate to say it, but it looks to me like you're making it all up like usual."

Peter gave a sigh. "For the last time Flash, I am not lying about the internship. I don't know why you think I am."

"Oh, c'mon, there's just no way someone like you would be able to get in. I mean, there were probably so many other applicants. There is no way that you beat them all."

"Yeah, well I did," Peter mumbled the lie, already tired from arguing with Flash. He slumped back in the seat, hitting his head against the soft backing, hoping for Flash to give up once he realized that Peter wasn't going to be baited this time.

His luck was with him this time as Flash did eventually get bored and turned back around to sit forward in his seat.

Peter snuck a glance to the seat across the isle and saw two girls from their class looking at him. They were looking at one another but Peter could tell from the tilt of their heads that they had obviously been listening in and believed what Flash had said. When one noticed that they had been caught, she leaned forward to say something to the other girl and they began talking softly to each other.

Peter slumped down further in his seat as he gave another sigh. Ned gave him a nudge to the shoulder and a sympathetic look.

Conversations continued to fill the bus for most of the ride after that but as time went by and they got closer to their destination, Mr. Johnson finally spoke up, gaining their attention once he borrowed the bus radio.

"Alright students settle down for a minute, please."

Most of them listened at those words but there were still a few who either did not hear him or ignored him. One of those was Flash and he was even called out and personally asked to be quiet. Peter and Ned were happy to quietly laugh at that.

"Thank you," Mr. Johnson spoke again, "I just wanted to remind you students that taking this tour is a privilege which can be taken away. I do not want to see any of you being disrespectful to the tour guide or anyone else that might want to speak with us. You are to listen to and obey any rules that are asked of you. No touching anything without permission and no goofing off. I would very much like to be the fun teacher since I am sure all of us are excited to be here. So please, just be on your best behavior. That shouldn't be hard, should it? After all you folks are seniors now. You are either almost or already are eighteen years old, meaning that you are adults now. I sure hope I can expect fellow adults to have common sense, right?"

Very much intimated by the small speech, the bus was quiet. The only proof that everyone had been listening and understood what Mr. Johnson had just said were all fifteen students quickly nodding their heads.

"Good," Mr. Johnson said with a smile.

Once he sat back down, it was not much longer until the bus was only a block away from Stark Industries. The tower took up most of their view, even blocking some of the neighboring skyscrapers.

Chatter started up once again as the energy in the bus grew exponentially.

Every student simply could not wait to step inside the place and tour of the grand building.

**End Chapter One**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know there is no actual field trip in this first chapter, but I am that kind of writer that does build up. I can't just jump into the actual trip right away! I don't know why really, it's a curse.
> 
> Either way, I hope it is still slightly interesting so far.


	2. Peculiar Palette

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the sake of this story, I am writing "Stark Industries" and "Avengers Tower" interchangeably.
> 
> The place it still home to the Avengers whenever they are in the area, though it is more like a second home for them. I like how in canon Tony built a new Avenger's facility in upstate New York. Basically, this tower that Peter is going into is the S.I. building and just an extra Avengers building with the upstate still being the main hub.
> 
> I also drew my Original Female Character, Erin White. I really wanted to share because I love her so much.

**Posted September 3, 2018 … Revised November 22, 2018**

* * *

When the buses finally parked, everyone was eager to hop out to stretch their legs and get a better look at the building. Groups of friends huddled together as they pointed and ogled at the decorated plaza that was built in front of the tower.

Conversations and laughter got louder and louder as the other buses caught up and soon let their own students out as well.

Try as they might, teachers and chaperones lost the battle of keeping the classes and groups separate when students soon intermingled to meet up with friends. The same could be said for Peter and Ned as they were chatting about the make-up of the Tower when M.J. snuck up behind them.

Her steps were quiet, and she easily spooked them when she whispered, "Boo."

The two jumped at the sound and M.J. let an easygoing laugh escape before she shifted her face to look indifferent once more. When Peter and Ned turned around to face her, grins overtook their fright when the recognized who it was. M.J. had her classic look with lidded eyes and a small smirk.

"'Sup, losers. Have a fun ride?"

"Hey M.J.," Peter said. "It was alright at the beginning but then Flash had to go open his mouth."

Ned nodded, "Yeah he couldn't even leave us alone even on a simple bus ride. He just had to go and pester Peter about his internship here."

"What an ass."

Ned gave a chuckle at that, "What did you do on the way here? It must have sucked to be on the bus by yourself."

A satisfied smile soon grew on her face at the thought, "Oh I had fun. I just drew some chick who sat across from me. I think she was car sick or something. It was fun to sketch all her different expressions as she went from feeling like crap to actually needing a bag."

As usual, the two males never knew how to respond to M.J. when she started talking about her suffering influenced drawings. They just nodded along and let her get lost in thought.

The teachers by then had finally fished out their attendance sheets again and begun reading from them to resort everyone again.

Peter and Ned moved away from M.J. but not before they were able to say bye to her. She reminded them about how they would meet up for the lunch break and the two boys gave a thumbs up in acknowledgement.

Once Peter and Ned were near Mr. Johnson, they noticed that he had finally corralled his own fifteen students. Because of that, their group was one of the first to be able to finally be ushered inside to the front lobby.

There were plenty of ooh's and aah's from everyone, including Peter, as they stepped passed the grand from entrance doors.

While Peter frequented the tower quite a bit, it did not mean that he entered the building from the ground floor like everyone else.

If he was in costume, he always just webbed into the avenger's common room on the top floors. If he came as Peter, he was always in Tony's company, thus the entrance that they always took was through the billionaire's personal elevator.

The man had a bit of an issue with crowds and being standing close to so many people while in a cramped box like an elevator. And so, the personal elevator it was. Peter never complained because he thought it was fun to be able to be in lift that moved so quickly from the ground floor and reach the top floors with no stops in-between.

Another aspect of taking Tony's personal elevator was how they also secretly arrived at the building via the employee parking garage.

That way, if the two of them were spotted, it was at the very least by a someone who worked there, meaning that they never tried to stop Tony to ask for an autograph or question who Peter was.

Those were the times when Peter occasionally caught glimpses of the front lobby of Stark Industries.

As it was, Peter had only been in the front lobby of the building a handful of times because of those circumstances and so, there were only a few things that seemed familiar. It appeared that there had been some type of renovations recently since the last time the young hero had been here as a few art displays and water fountains were removed or replaced.

Because of all of this, Peter was just as impressed at the sights as his peers were.

Flash caught the look on Peter's face and he quickly said something about it, "What, never seen the inside of the building you  _intern_ at?"

"Oh, uh," Peter stuttered. He did not know how to explain why he never needed to be on the ground floor but the longer that Peter did not answer, he knew it made him look worse. It seemed that the pause was indeed long enough since Flash spoke up again.

"Lost for words, Parker? Can't think up a lie quick enough to 'explain' to us your dumb reasons?"

Ned shifted a bit, wanting to speak up for his friend but not knowing what he could say to get Flash to back off.

"For the last time, Flash, I am not lying. I do have an internship here, but I don't see why it has to be such a big deal." It felt nice to say that he worked here and have it be true now. "I don't brag about it and I don't think I ever really have. In fact, I think that most people at school only know about it because  _you're_ the one bragging for me."

A few giggles and chuckles floated around after those words.

He looked over Flash's shoulder to see that a few of their classmates had been close enough to listen in.

Two boys and a girl were laughing at Flash's back and one another classmate gave Peter a thumbs up. He felt himself straighten up a bit at the acknowledgement from a few peers. Flash scowled at all of them but wound up stalking away with a bit of red dusting his cheeks.

He mumbled something even Peter could not pick up due to the volume in the echo-like space and he tried to not care.

If Flash backed off for hopefully the entire trip, Peter would be able to have fun for once at something school related.

Peter spotted that Flash had walked over to a few other classmates that Peter knew were Flash's friends. Or at least were as close to being friend to someone like Flash. Perhaps the term lackey would be a better definition to use on them.

They seemed to cheer Flash up and at the same time, all four of them turned to stare at Peter. They each gave varying degrees of sneers towards him and the teen knew that they would try to get pay back during the trip somehow.

He gave a deep sigh at the thought and when Ned asked what was wrong, he just tilted his head in Flash's direction. Ned gave a gloomy nod in understanding and put a hand on Peter's shoulder in comfort.

"Don't worry, dude. Just stick close to Mr. Johnson and hopefully nothing will too bad will happen."

.

* * *

.

After that little bit of drama, the group was finally able to make their way to the large reception desk that sat towards the front of the spacious room.

Large windows brought in early sunlight, casting bright rays that settled atop the counter and making the white surface seem to shine. Several receptionists were evenly distributed across the large expanse of granite and Mr. Johnson walked up to the one on the far left.

A younger man was tapping away at a computer and when he noticed the sizable group, he gave a cheery smile.

Their teacher introduced who he was and what the group was here for.

The kind man behind the counter gave a pleased smile once he learned that they were there for a tour of the place. Even from the back of the group, Peter easily spotted the name Gavin that was printed on the card that hung from his thin neck.

"Oh, I am so pleased to see such eager young minds come here to see what there is to learn here! Hold on just a moment please Mr. Johnson. I will be right back." Gavin said as he walked behind the white wall that proudly stood behind the long counter. A delicate looking waterfall feature shimmered in the lighting and kept the groups attention while they waited for Gavin.

He returned before a minute even passed, holding a small basket that contained a pile of white cards. On the side of the basket was a sheet of paper with 'Midtown High School – Mr. Johnson – 9:00 a.m. Tour' taped in place.

Gavin sat back down in his seat and grabbed a card from the top of the pile. He then placed it underneath a scanner and after a soft  _beep_ sounded from his computer, he turned to the group and said, "Kevin Bailey?"

A thin classmate of Peter's was startled at his name being addressed but he quickly got over it and stepped forward with a confused look on his face. Gavin simply handed him the white card that had just been scanned.

"It's just a visitor's badge," Gavin said when he noticed the curious looks. "Wear it at all time while here please."

He then went back to grabbing a card from the basket and scanning it. One at a time, Gavin would take one, scan it, then simply call out a student's name. While it was only fifteen students and one teacher that he was checking in, Peter thought it would still be quicker to have at least have someone help.

Peter turned to see what the other receptionists were doing, assuming not much, but was surprised to see that the other people behind the large front counter were doing the same thing as the other groups from the school were finally coming inside the building to be checked in as well.

Looking at all the other groups being scanned in brought a realization to Peter. He worriedly looked beck to Gavin then and kept an eye on the cards as they were scanned in one by one.

What if he was outed by F.R.I.D.A.Y.? What would the A.I. even say?

Could she even alert people to his secret identity or would she simply talk about his intern position (if she even talked at all).

Yes, Peter wanted to prove Flash wrong, but that did not mean that the young superhero wanted to be recognized by F.R.I.D.A.Y. – he just knew that she would let Mr. Stark know that he was here.

The longer he worried about it, Peter realized a whole bunch of things could go wrong. Mr. Stark could wind up teasing him in front of his classmates. Or maybe the older man would just say gushy things that would leave him permanently embarrassed for the rest of his short life because he knew that he would just fall and die right there if that happened to him.

His thoughts ran wild then as Peter began running different scenarios in his head and began worrying about all the things that the billionaire might do and say if he came down.

Peter almost wanted to shout out loud to the A.I. to ask her to keep quiet.

As Gavin's computer continued to randomly scan the students, Peter's worry continued to grow.

When he was finally called, he was thankful to hear no remarks from F.R.I.D.A.Y. as well as there being no reaction from Gavin.

He felt a little bad for thinking in such a way, but Peter thought it made sense seeing as he was someone close to Tony and he did not interact with a lot people that worked below the penthouse of the building. It made sense that he would not know a lot of the employees that worked on the lower levels of the tower and they would not know him in return.

Peter walked up like everyone else and accepted the badge without any complaints. He stepped away to let the next student move forward and he looked down at the badge, curious to see how looked.

It was very simple in design.

Printed on one side of the white, vertical card were the words  _Stark Industries N.Y._ at the top, the word  **VISITOR**  boldly displayed in the center, and a barcode at the very bottom of the pass. Everything was printed in black ink. Flipping it to the other side, Peter was impressed to see a faint shimmer on the entire thing and as he moved the piece of plastic back and forth, he noticed it was a hologram that just said  _Stark_  that took up the entire card.

The pass was connected to a simple black lanyard that was tied to the card instead of being clipped there with the typical piece of metal.

Peter made sure to wear the lanyard right away so that he would not lose it.

Wearing the pass however, made Peter wonder if he had a real badge to get around the building. Then again, he never really thought to leave the common rooms or Tony's lab, so it was not like he really needed to have a pass to get to other floors.

It would still be a nice thing to have, Peter thought to himself, as he watched people walk by with their own badges proudly displayed. They swung from their necks and he noticed that the lanyards were various colors. He spotted that there were similar to the visitor badges with the only discrepancy was that there was a photo of the employee instead of the word "Visitor" in the center of the badge.

The longer he looked around at all the badges, Peter decided that he would ask Tony about it.

While Flash was distracted by being called up to take his own pass, one of his lackeys took the time to walk up to Peter and Ned with his own ugly smile on his face. "Why you lookin' all confused at the badge, Penis. Don't look familiar to ya? Oh right, of course it doesn't because you don't work here!"

"Shut up, Sean," Ned said. That was something that Peter was always surprised by. Whenever the two of them were picked on by anyone other than Flash, Ned always seemed to become a bit braver and would stand up for the both of them. Peter never complained because he thought it was awesome to see his best friend put down people like Sean Adler.

"What did you just say, Dead?"

"I said leave Peter alone. You don't need to be such a dick, you know. And you sure look like an idiot here, trying to look all cool when you don't know anything about this place either."

"You should watch your mouth you f-"

A fake cough stopped Sean from saying another word.

Peter looked behind the idiot to see a youthful woman standing right behind him. She had bright red hair in a short bob cut and her arms were firmly crossed as she confidently stood her ground.

Peter couldn't help letting a relieved smile fall on his face at her presence. She screamed confidence and looked like a person that would take no funny business from anyone. She also looked vaguely familiar to Peter though he could not quite place where he might know her from.

Sean looked like he finally understood where he was and seemed worried as he realized that anyone could be behind him.

He did the classic turn around in slow motion to see who was there.

Peter was not disappointed to hear a small squeak escape from Sean at the sight of a rather attractive woman glaring at him.

She finally spoke once she had Sean's attention. "Is there a problem here?"

"Of course not!" Sean practically shouted as he stood there as straight as a pole with his arms pressed to his sides.

"Is there  _going_ to be a problem?"

"N-no ma'am!"

"Hmm. There better not be," she said to Sean specifically before she spared a look to Peter and Ned.

Once she gave them a once over, she turned back the group at large. "Alright you guys, welcome to Stark Industries. My name is Doctor Erin White and I am going to be your tour guide today. But please, just call me Erin."

She still stood in a somewhat confident pose as she shifted her folded arms to fall and slip onto her hips. She wore a simple pencil skirt, tucked in blouse, and high heels but she also wore a crisp lab coat over everything that fell to just below her knees.

About half of the group greeted her though Erin seemed to not mind the lack of response.

That was when Peter realized that while he and Sean had been 'talking', everyone else had already grabbed their passes and were loosely standing in a circle around Mr. Johnson. After Erin's announcement, they had turned their attention to her and thus, Peter and Ned since they were right next to her. He caught sight of Mr. Johnson giving the thee of them a stern stare before he finally rested his eyes upon Sean.

He looked even more frustrated and Peter was happy to assume it was because he had heard the end of Sean's words.

While Erin spoke a bit more about the building and the company, Peter noticed from the corner of his eye Mr. Johnson making his way through the group to get to Seam. He patted Sean on the shoulder to gain his attention and pulled the teen away a few steps. He said a few words with a stern look on his face and Sean looked a bit cowed by being lectured by both his teacher and their tour guide.

Peter could not stop himself for letting a smug grin reaching his face before he turned to focus back on Erin.

She was still smiling as she looked over the mass of high schoolers. "Well, since I see that we all have now got our visitor's badges, let's get going, shall we? After all, the sooner we start this, the more we might be able to get to."

The intimidating woman that she had previously been was gone and instead, a passionate young woman took her place. "Before we start though, are there any burning questions that just can't wait to be asked?"

Two hands rose, and Erin picked one, letting a girl that Peter had known since middle school, Casey O'Brien, ask the very first her question for the day.

"What do you do here, if you don't mind me asking."

"Well, I'm the head of some labs here actually. They're on the higher floors however. Floors fifty-five to fifty-seven to be exact. I even have a few assistants to help with managing three floors and what we do in our labs are to test the prototypes that come from the higher ups. Personally, I am a level three employee here," Erin said as she grabbed her green lanyard from around her neck and showed it to the group, "and there are only one-hundred-and-eighty-six people here who have the privilege of wearing this color. Even within all those people, I am what you might call one of the bosses for them. I work directly under a Yellow Badge myself and when we get the new stuff to play with, I'm one of the people that organizes who gets what for my fellow Greens."

While she let everyone take in that information, Erin picked the other hand that had been raised.

"How many people work here?" The question was asked by a student by the name of Trent Chavez. Peter did not know much about him since they had only shared two other classes all throughout their four years of high school, but he was a nice enough guy.

"There are currently four-thousand-and-nine-hundred people employed in this building and who have an active badge. This does not account for people like Mr. Stark who have their own badge but do not necessarily 'work' here and for those that are employed by Stark Industries that work in our sister building in Los Angeles."

Everyone was amazed by the number and Peter let his eyes widen in amazement. He had no idea that so many people had a job here and all of them worked under Pepper Potts.

"Are there any more questions?" Erin asked as she almost turned away, ready to lead the group to the various security lines that lead into the rest of the spacious room.

"Are you single?" was asked somewhere within the group though no one could correctly guess who asked it since the person lowered their voice to ask.

Erin turned back with a raised eyebrow and a confused smile.

The group giggled at the question. Some of them did so because they couldn't believe someone would ask something so personal, while others laughed because it was similar to what they had been thinking.

Erin eventually laughed too.

It was not an embarrassed laugh though and it almost appeared as though such a question was asked of her quite often and she found the humor in hearing something almost regularly.

"Sorry to say but I am taken. Married actually so sorry dear student, wherever you may be, but my heart was stolen long ago." She said as she took her left hand out of her coat pocket to show off her wedding ring.

The same student gave a quiet, "Damn," and another round of laughter spread through them before Erin was finally able to lead them away from the front counter and over to beginning of the security lines.

.

* * *

.

There were plenty of lines that each had a small conveyor belt with an X-ray machine for personal items at the end. Next to each belt was also high tech metal detector that Peter thought looked cool.

A few lines appeared to be priority and were employee only as Peter did not spot a single person with a black badge walking through them. The majority wore purple with green being the next most common colored badges, but he spotted the occasional blue and there even looked to be a single person with a yellow.

Erin instead walked them over to what seemed to be the regular security lines for people like Peter and his class.

He spotted a lot more people walking through their line with black just like them but there was still a steady stream of blue passing through here as well.

The group eventually fell in line once there was an open spot and Peter heard a few employees behind them groan at having to now wait for a bunch of teenagers to go through ahead of them.

Peter was not sure if Erin heard those words but either way, she ignored them and turned to address the group as she walked backwards in the line. "Like anywhere else that has security like this, please remove any metal that you have on your person and remove shoes as well. Keep the passes on you however. They do not have metal in them and they are needed to be worn as another layer of security here."

She then demonstrated as she went through the detector after placing her high heels and phone in a plastic tub.

When she did, the high-tech metal detector did two things at one. It made sure that Erin was not concealing anything metallic, but it also scanned the badge that was still being worn.

Right away, Peter could faintly hear from the other side of the detector the voice of F.R.I.D.A.Y. speaking. He leaned over slightly to get a peek of where the voice could have come from and saw a security guard standing in front of a screen that was attached to the metal detector. He seemed bored as he just stood there, overlooking the consistent list of people making their way through.

"Erin Elaine White. Laboratory technician, Laboratory manager, Tour guide. Clearance level Green. Confirmed."

It was not glaringly loud as that would have made the job a mess, having to constantly hear names be spewed out but for Peter, it was easily heard.

Hearing it made him curious to know if he would have anything specific on his name in the database and if it would be spoken out loud too.

If there was any information, the young hero really hoped it was nothing too horrible or even something that would give away his other identity.

He gave a sigh at those thoughts and simply began taking off his belt, toeing off his shoes, and placing his phone in a plastic tub that was provided for everyone. Peter stood behind Ned and when it was his friend's turn to walk through, he was able to hear what it  _should_ hopefully sound like for Peter too.

"Edward Patrick Leeds. Fieldtrip Visitor. Clearance level Black. Confirmed."

It was then Peter's turn to walk through and he gave another sigh and just prayed that his information would be normal. He looked up to the expensive looking metal detector as he walked under it, and Peter easily picked up his own information in F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s voice.

"Peter Benjamin Parker. [Classified], Intern, Fieldtrip Visitor. Clearance level Red. Confirmed."

Now that Peter was on the other side of the machine, he got a full view of the security guard slapping a hand to his mouth to stop himself from spewing out his sip of coffee. He looked back up at the screen to make sure he really just heard what he thought and once he saw that yes, it was correct, he swiveled his eyes over to Peter.

The teen felt a bit uncomfortable being scrutinized by the man and looked away, hoping it would make the security man stop staring.

Instead, Peter hurried over to collect his belongings and then he turned to walk over to his where a few classmates who had already went through stood. He saw as he got closer that they and Erin were looking at him with their own wide eyes of disbelief.

"Did I just hear that right," Erin asked, "Did F.R.I.D.A.Y. just say that you have a Red clearance level?"

"Uh, yeah?" Peter did not really know what the color meant but the more he thought about it, he realized that he had not seen anyone walking around with that color on their badge. He also did not want to say anything that might out him as only being a real intern for the last three weeks as opposed to the last two years like everyone assumed.

Then Erin's surprise left her face and instead a look of consideration took its place. "Wait, your name is Peter, right? Peter Parker?"

Peter just gave a nod.

"Yeah," Erin said with a nod of her own, "I think I've heard your name before. Intern, right?"

"That's me."

"Okay, at least something is making a little more sense. Though that doesn't explain why you have Red."

Thinking fast, Peter just said what he thought might make sense while also hoping the words would help to stop anymore talk of himself. "Yeah, I have Red. But I can't say why though. Classified and all that jazz."

He still had no idea just how important being a Red level was though.

Erin gave a serious nod of understanding and dropped the subject. It looked like people here knew the importance of being on a need to know basis and when to drop things that they were not given permission to know.

His peers that had been standing right next to Erin still had looks of amazement on their faces.

Samantha Lee, another person that Peter had known since middle school spoke up, "I always knew that Flash was such a liar. Don't worry Peter, I believe you and I think it's cool that you have proof to shove in his face now."

"Yeah, if Flash even heard that is," Peter mumbled to himself as he looked behind him to see where the bully was.

Ned walked up to him then and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it Peter. He doesn't need to hear it and besides, I'm sure something else will come up so that you can prove it to him."

"Yeah, like I want something else to pop up like this."

"C'mon Peter, it can be fun like I said. I really just want to rub it in Flash's face that you're working here and doing really cool things."

"Well I'm happy you think what I do is cool."

"Of course. But, uh, what's up with that Red business? Why're you stuck with black like us losers when you could be wearing a more fun color?"

"Dunno," was all Peter said with a shrug, "And honestly, I don't care that much. It's cool to know that I have a real pass like the other workers else here, but right now I'm not all that worried about it."

"Yeah, I get what you mean. But you better figure it out soon and then show me what it looks like some day."

"Yeah I will. Ned, I tell and show you everything. Don't worry too much about it."

The grin Ned gave Peter then was completely heartwarming and it made Peter feel so lucky to have someone like Ned as his best friend.

.

* * *

.

Once the rest of the group and Mr. Johnson came through, (with no indication that they had heard about the Red badge) Erin then headed off to the left and up to a pair of long escalators. There was no more talk about the interesting information on Peter's pass and everyone was happy to follow Erin so that they could finally get the tour started.

"Why don't we start at the first floor," Erin began as she stepped onto the moving stairs first and turned around to watch them follow. "That way we can get some of the basics out of the way."

Mr. Johnson made sure he was the last one to step onto the platform so that the group of students were corralled and accounted for.

As Peter and Ned stood on their own step somewhere in the middle of the group, they looked down at the ground floor where they had just come from and were amazed at the different angle they were getting. All the workers that were walking by and heading in all different directions was fun to watch. The friends looked up then and enjoyed the view of the New York streets that the tall windows framed.

The ground floor of S.I. and the first floor were technically in the same room. It was a very large space with elongated walls and an open floor plan. The first floor only took up one half of the ground floor, letting a long glass half wall be the barrier that kept the areas separated.

The entire place was white and seemed to glow with all the lights that filled the place yet, it was not blinding or an uncomfortable feeling. Rather, it simply made the place feel clean and orderly.

The ride up the escalator seemed a bit longer than a normal one but when they were finally let off, Peter and his class were greeted to the sight of another large, open floored room that held a lot of Avengers memorabilia and prototypes of various things that were built by the Stark's.

There was a small stand that had held a plaque that stood in the middle of the room and that was where Erin headed with the group following like ducklings.

"Okay," she said as she tapped the plaque with a single finger, "this is where a lot of common things are displayed for people to look at them. There are plenty of things exhibited here but I will say now that most are replicas. Still, that doesn't take away from how cool some of this stuff is. Everything has at least a paragraph of information on it nearby the object so go ahead and look around. I think ten minutes is a good amount of time to hang around here, don't you think? And don't forget, if you have any questions, come find me and I will be happy to answer anything you want to know."

With some nods, Erin then let them go and do their own thing with the warning that they were to not leave the floor.

Peter and Ned made a beeline for the Stark inventions knowing that most of the others would prefer the hero items on the other side. They were right, and the two had plenty of space around them to ogle the replicas of inventions that Tony and Howard Stark had made throughout their lives.

Ned made sure that he read every word on each plaque and the two eventually made their way to a corner where a two minute short video was on loop, giving a brief explanation on who the father and son were and what they had achieved through their inventions.

A man with broad shoulders was already there, sitting on the single bench that was provided. He was wearing a simple outfit of blue jeans, a pale blue t-shirt, and a brown baseball cap.

He could only see the back of the man but right away, Peter felt as though he knew the person. Not wanting to try his luck and making it awkward if he got it wrong, Peter and Ned simply sat on the other side of the long, cushioned bench and watched the clip.

After it looped one more time, the three wound up standing to leave at the same time and that was when Peter caught the side of the man's face and took a step back in surprise.

"Mr. Rogers? What are you doing here?"

Steve Roger's shoulders hunched at the words and he slowly turned towards the two friends with a worried look on his face.

Right away, the worry turned to surprise once he got a proper look at the two teens. "Peter? What are  _you_ doing here? Don't you have school?"

"Hey, I asked you first. But I am in school technically. I'm on a field trip right now." Peter explained with air of calm around him. At his side, Ned was frantically whispering to himself, "Oh my god it's Captain America. Oh my god, oh my god! Peter how do I look? Peter why aren't you introducing your best friend?"

Steve had clearly heard Ned's mutterings and gave him a nod and a simple, "Hello," with his famous smile before he turned back to Peter. "I'm touring too I guess."

"Huh?"

The captain gave a sheepish shrug of his shoulders then, "Yeah. Sometimes when I want to be alone but not be too far away, I just come down here to the levels with all the museums and memorabilia. I find it kind of fun and even a little bit comforting."

"Yeah, well I bet it's not all that relaxing since you're wearing a disguise. You clearly don't want to be recognized and I don't know if you can even call it that a disguise. So lame." Peter had made a sweeping motion with his hands towards the older man as though that was enough for Peter to get his point across.

"Hey! I'll have you know that I have worn this 'disguise' more than once already and no one has ever realized who I was."

"Oh really? I find that hard to believe."

There was a pause as the two looked at each other. Ned was still fidgeting in amazement and Steve had a look on his face as though he did not want to say something. He then sighed and nodded his head.

"Yeah, okay. Maybe there was the occasional kid who figured it out and I guess you're now included in that so…"

"So maybe you should find something better to wear. Or better yet, don't try to sneak into a place that literally has your face framed in some places."

Steve started laughing then and Peter soon followed.

Ned was too start struck to laugh along with Steve-freaking-Rogers but gave a small smile when he noticed how comfortable and casual Peter was acting in front of such a hero.

"Oh my god! Is that Captain America?"

Peter and Steve stopped laughing right away and looked at each other. For Peter he felt bad, thinking that it was his fault for talking to the man and making him stand out a little more rather than being a regular person in the background.

"Uh oh," Ned muttered as he looked between the other two and saw Samantha looking at the hero in awe.

Behind her were a few other classmates and as one, the other classmates turned to her at her words then followed where she was looking. Everyone soon wore similar expressions of shock and wonder at seeing Captain America just standing there in a T-shirt and jeans.

"Aw, jeeze," Steve said with a slump of his shoulders. He gave a sigh as he looked to Peter and said, "Sorry bud, looks like my covers blown," and took off his hat so that everyone could see that it was in fact Steve Rogers standing there in the flesh.

"What're you apologizing to me for?" Peter asked quietly before his peers could rush over and hear their conversation.

"Well I know how you get when it comes to acting familiar with us when you're trying to be just regular Peter Parker. So, I was just saying sorry for cutting our chat quick and that I was about to pretend like I don't know you."

"Oh, right." Peter looked down slightly at those words.

It was true.

Peter did usually pretend that he did not know the Avengers if he was even near them when not in the suit. It made him sad to realize that he did that quite a bit too.

It sounded wrong when Steve said it out loud like that and Peter suddenly felt the need to shout out loud that Steve Rogers was practically an uncle to him.

He shoved that feeling deep down however when time ran out and Samantha and the rest of the group suddenly huddled around the super soldier and started hammering him with questions.

Peter backed away with Ned at his side and the two shifted around so that they were at the back of the group but could still listen in to whatever was going to happen now that the whole class knew that there was an avenger in their midst.

**End Chapter Two**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know there was still not a lot of tour-like things going on this chapter too, but I just couldn't help myself. The story really got away from me for a minute there, but I had fun with it so oh well. Again, I hope it was at least somewhat fun to read.
> 
> Also, I have no regular upload schedule and have no idea when I will get to the rest of this story. Sorry about that but I really just wanted to upload these first two chapters because I like them and want you guys to like them too.
> 
> I'm such a potato.


	3. Odd Overload

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys, I'm crying. I have never had a story blow up so quickly before. I had over 1,500 hits in the first twelve hours of posting this. I am so happy it is beyond words! Thank you so much!
> 
> Hope this chapter is just as fun for you to read.
> 
> I also got some lovely fan-art and permission to post it. Please give Artemisz a round of applause! It is so freaking adorable and I am in love!

**Posted September 6, 2018 … Revised December 15, 2018**

* * *

 When Peter finally moved away so that he would not be swarmed like what was currently happening to Steve, he made sure to securely grab Ned's arm so that he was not circled as well. The heavier teen gave a breathy thanks to his best friend and watched stunned at how his classmates were behaving.

The two teens easily found themselves towards the back of the group and watched as the four people in front of Steve continue to grow until thirteen eager teenagers and one teacher were standing before the first Avenger.

Steve, all the while had the classic smile gracing his handsome face and nodded to everyone in greeting when he made eye contact. Peter was almost eighty percent sure that the smile was completely fake, though of course the man was too nice to say or do anything.

"Dang, Peter, was I ever like that before I knew?" Ned asked with a hint of a disturbed look on his face.

"Knew what?"

"Knew that you went on the web."

Peter looked at Ned with a raised eyebrow before he turned back to gaze at the spectacle before them. "Oh, you mean if you were ever completely  _bonkers_  when it came to seeing a superhero standing there, right before your eyes?"

Ned gave a short nod with a slightly opened mouth.

"No," Peter said with a short laugh, "you never acted like that. You were more of the 'still as a statue' kind of excited and still kind of are. But you were still pretty funny to watch when you would tell me all about how cool you thought Spider-man was."

Ned quickly turned to Peter with a blush making its way up from his neck. "Hey! I thought you said we wouldn't talk about that anymore! I didn't know!"

"Yeah, you're right. Sorry." The laugh and smile on Peter's face said how sorry he really felt however.

Ned soon found himself laughing too.

The two turned back in time to watch Mr. Johnson go from a fan to a worried teacher. It seemed that he finally noticed that his students were not giving Steve any breathing room. A reddish tint began forming on his face either from exertion with trying to push the kids back or from mortification, Peter did not know. He felt a little sorry that he was not rushing in to help but what could he do? He was weak Peter Parker that everyone knew almost failed Gym every year.

Peter was then truly considering helping but before he could, someone else finally spoke.

"Hey!" It was Erin and she looked angry. "What do you guys think you're doing ganging up someone like that! It doesn't matter who they are, give them a little bit of personal space please. And how about respect while you're at it to your guest, your teacher, and your school for representing them with such poor taste."

Everyone else had eyes widened in surprise – Steve included.

It was almost as though it was choreographed when all the students and Mr. Johnson took one big step backwards and suddenly there was a weird circle of empty space between them and the hero.

With a weak chuckle at the awkward turn, the super soldier just raised a hand to rub at the back of his head as he looked at Erin, then the tour group, then back to Erin. "Thanks for listening to her, you guys. Don't want to anger the workers here. But now that you've caught me, I don't really mind answering a few things like an impromptu interview. That okay?" Peter was pretty sure that he had asked that to Erin since that was where he was looking, but everyone else nodded too.

By this point, their tour guide had gone back to her intimidating pose with folded arms and a strong stance. Erin then gave a sigh and looked down at her watch, biting her lip. "I suppose, as long as you guys are okay with this taking up some time from somewhere else."

The eager nods were all she needed before she rolled her eyes and made a sweeping motion with her arms to Steve.

"Floors all yours – for no longer than fifteen minutes!" She had to shout the last few words to get her point across as the flood of questions came pouring out once the students realized they were staying.

"Mr. Captain America, sir! How do you like living in the 21st century?"

"What's your favorite color?"

"Have you ever heard of The Beatles?"

"Please say 'Alexa, play Despacito!' It's for scientific reasons!"

"How much can you bench press?"

"Can I get a selfie?"

"Oh, me too! Selfie please!"

Peter was amazed. His classmates were so eager and loud, it was amazing that there were only thirteen people talking over themselves. And all the while, Steve Rogers –  _The_  Captain America – just smiled and nodded and answered everything like it was as easy as pie.

"The 21st century is very interesting so far. I've learned a lot though I am sure that I have a lot more to learn. Can never have too much knowledge you know! I just know that you folks will laugh at me for saying my favorite colors are red, white, and blue. So how about I just say that I enjoy a nice pale shade of sky blue. Yes, I have heard of The Beatles – Tony has made sure that I have listened to every song made by them at least once. Uh, Alexa, play Despacito? Did I say that right? Right now, I think I can bench, oh, maybe 650 Pounds? Yeah, that sounds about right. And of course you can get a picture!"

He leaned down next to Samantha first and gave a small smile as she pushed her phone away so that she could capture herself standing next to the muscular man.

She gave a squeal in thanks and moved aside as her friend took her place, phone at the ready.

It seemed that after his acceptance to take a selfie with Samantha, everyone else just lined up, happy to get one themselves and seemingly done with asking questions.

When it seemed like the students had calmed down and had their fun, Mr. Johnson got his turn to jump in and happily said, "Mr. Rogers, I have been a huge fan ever since I was a little boy. I was born ten years after you were frozen, so I never got to hear anything in real time, but you were simply a hero that I never stopped hearing about. I'm sure you hear this a lot, but knowing I have this chance to say this to you, knowing I might never get the chance again, I have to say something. If that's alright with you?"

"Go right ahead," Steve said with another patient smile.

"I just want tell you how thankful I am for what you did for this country and that my late uncle survived the war because of you. He never said anything about talking to you, but he said that your team helped his out one time and that you might have used your shield to shoot a grenade off course that had been heading for him.

"I've heard that same story over and over as I grew up, but I never got tired of it. I waited almost as long as the rest of the world had, hoping for the day that you would be found after your ship went down. And now, here we are. Again, all I can say is thank you." From where he was standing, Peter could see a bit of a shine to his eyes as he said his piece.

Mr. Johnson moved to shake Steve's hand then and knowing how much words like what his teacher had just said meant to Steve, Peter knew what was going to happen before anyone else.

Steve eagerly accepted the handshake and then used the same arm to drag the teacher into a light hug. Again, with heightened hearing on his side, Peter was the only one to hear Steve tell Mr. Johnson, "Thank you for telling me a bit of your story and I am always grateful to hear from the families that I helped. I may have never met your uncle, but now all these years later, I get to thank him through you. And that is all I need."

The two moved back then and when Mr. Johnson moved aside, he was able to use a sleeve to wipe his face without anyone except Steve seeing.

After that, it seemed like Erin was eager to take their little group back on track.

Peter had a different idea however.

He did not know what came over him then, but Peter just wanted to say something to Steve to shake up the group a bit before they moved on. He was not so sure why, but there was a nagging in the back of his mind saying that this was because he felt a little down after realizing that he always tried to play off Steve and the other Avengers when he was just Peter Parker.

Now was the chance to right that wrong and selfishly, Peter wanted his peers to know that he was somewhat close to the Captain.

Nothing came to mind as he let himself walk a bit closer to his uncle-in-all-but-blood and knowing that everyone was now looking at them, he said, "So Captain America. Steve Rogers."

"That's me." Steve gave an easy smile though Peter could just tell that he was curious and perhaps a bit wary of what Peter might say.

"If you had to pick your favorite hero," Peter kept going with a sly look growing on his face as he slowly came up with his idea, "between Iron Man and Spider-man, who would you choose?"

The confident look on Steve's face vanished like a light switch.

While Peter's peers thought the change was because he was such a noble man that he could not have a favorite, Peter knew the truth. Steve could never answer that without consequences for two reasons.

The first and most obvious was because Peter was right before him. It was true that Steve could simply say Spider-man to make Peter happy, but the second reason that Steve would struggle with the question was because the teen also knew that Steve was not a good liar. Whatever he said now, Peter would know truth from lie and Steve knew that as well.

"Of course he going to say Iron Man, Parker," Flash interrupted as he got slightly close to the two.

He knew better than to get too close after Erin's rather stern speech, but he seemed like he still wanted to have the last word. Or at least, Flash wanted to sound smarter than Peter while in front of a hero like Captain America.

"Oh, great," Peter muttered quietly to himself as he looked down so that he did not have to meet the others gaze.

Apparently, he was not as quiet with his words as he thought he had been when he noticed Steve flash his eyes over to him before he turned back to Flash with a light frown overtaking his expression.

"Oh? And why is that mister…" Steve asked in his usually friendly tone, but he ended up folding his arms, making them look just a bit larger than normal. He stood to his full height as he towered over the teen and stared Flash down.

"Flash," the other teen said in introduction with a smile and a twitch of his arm as though wanting to raise it for a handshake but stopped.

Peter hid a grin at that, knowing that the other teen was probably too nervous.

"Flash?" Peter knew that Steve asked that with the intention of sounding like he was confirming what he heard. But what came out however, was a tone that boarded on uncertainty and a bit of confusion at hearing it.

There were a few snickers behind Peter and Flash then since everyone knew how much he hated his real name.

"Uh," Flash gave an uncomfortable cough, "I mean, I'm Eugene."

The friendly smile came back, "Oh! Well then nice to meet you Eugene. But what did you mean with what you said just now? How do you know that I should answer with Iron Man?"

"Well, I thought it would be a bit obvious. I mean, you have known him longer." A smug smile graced his face then as though knowing that was the end of the argument.

"That might be true, but we did have a falling out a couple years back. You, of course, know about that I'm sure?" It was true that there had a been a bit of a break up in the team back when Peter first met Steve on that Airport terminal, but everyone had come a long way since then. The two leaders had finally put aside their differences and The Avengers finally came together stronger than ever.

Peter was simply shocked that Steve brought it up because the young hero felt as though he had a pretty clear picture that the super solider preferred to not bring up that time in his life because of how much heartbreak it had caused for everyone involved.

"Of course I know," Flash said, "But I think that it still stands that you'd be closer to Tony Stark than some wannabe hero."

The face Steve gave at those words was priceless.

Peter actually had to turn away and pretend to cough to stop the snort of laughter from escaping his nose. Flash heard anyways and gave him an ugly look and Ned, who had still been standing near Peter and Steve, just hid behind a hand to stop his own smile.

When he turned back, Peter saw that Steve's face was still showing off the mix of confusion, anger, and something else that Peter did not recognize.

"I like to think that Spider-man is an actual hero just like the rest of us. He saves people just Tony and I do. He's definitely no wannabe. In fact, I think that he does more hero work than Tony and I do combined. Tony has other things in his life that he has to take care of sometimes and as for myself, well, I guess I'm just not out there on the streets as much the spider is and ready to swing two blocks over to stop every thief along the way."

The warm feeling that flooded Peter then was something he would never forget. He hunched his shoulders in a bit of shyness and lowered his head to hide his blush and large grin from Steve.

He felt giddy at the compliment and even felt a bubble of laughter trying to escape.

When there was a silence that feel over the group, Peter looked up to see that everyone was looking at Steve in wonder. He was not glaring at Flash, but the neutral look might as well have been. Flash opened and closed his mouth a few times, not knowing what to say to that. He reminded Peter of a fish.

Before the awkward silence was interrupted by Erin.

She held a look that spoke of how uncomfortable she felt as well, but as a professional, she knew when to deal with it and try to move forward. And that was what she did when she told them that the fifteen minutes were up and that they needed to head to the next part of the tour.

That seemed to wake everyone up and Peter's class started heading back to Erin where she stood in a small hallway off to the side of the hero exhibit. A few braver students turned back to say goodbye to Steve, and he gave wave in reply.

Flash grumbled to himself and as he headed over as well, he spared another glare to Peter. The teen hero moved to follow after his group but was stopped by a warm hand on his shoulder. He turned to follow the appendage and found Steve's concerned face on the other end. "You alright?"

Peter looked back to see that everyone else was loitering around Erin. Some were on their phones but a few of them were watching what was going on. Peter felt another odd feeling in his stomach when he turned back to face his uncle-in-all-but-blood, not knowing what to do.

"Yeah," he finally said. "I should probably head over there," he said with a tilt of his head in the group's direction, "tour's still going on, ya know."

The older hero pursed his lips at those words. He looked over Peter's head to his classmates before he looked back down at Peter and lowered himself to be closer in height. "I didn't like that kid much. You know him?"

"Who, Flash? Yeah he's a bit of a…" Peter did not finish that line of thought knowing just who was standing before him. Instead, he gave a look to Steve that summed up what the end of that sentence would have been.

Steve gave an unimpressed look with a raised eyebrow, but his twitch of a smile gave away how much he agreed with what went unsaid. "Yeah, I can kinda see what you mean, and I've only known for a few minutes."

"Well, I should really get going. Watcha doing later? Will I see you?"

"Yeah, you'll see me later, Pete. I might hang around here more now that it's quiet again. But I'll be up there this evening."

"Cool," Peter said as he started walking backwards toward his tour group before he turned around to walk normally. He paused for just moment yet in that time, a million different things were running through his mind.

He finally took a breath and turned back to Steve once more. Without thinking too much about it, Peter headed over and eagerly wrapped his arms around the other man.

Steve had given a surprised, "oof!" at the impact but almost instinctively wrapped his arms around Peter's shoulders in response to the unexpected embrace. A smile easily grew upon his face as he looked down at Peter's curly head of hair. "What's with the hug, Pete?"

Peter said nothing and instead smushed his face into the chest in front of him as he shook his head. He let himself take in a breath and caught the scent of familiar laundry detergent and his shoulders lost all tension. When he pulled back, he did not realize that he had a completely sincere smile in place but for Steve, his eyes widened in amazement at the look the kid was giving him. It held nothing but trust and admiration.

"Okay, I really gotta go now, but I just really wanted to do that and I'm glad I did! See ya, Steve!" Peter finally moved away that time for sure and gave a wave over his shoulder as he headed for Ned.

.

* * *

.

"Well, now that we're all gathered again, let's go to the next location!" Erin said with a smile to the group as though hoping it would distract them from what had just obviously been a tender moment for one of her tourists.

She walked them further down the small hallway away from the gallery where they had just been and once they reached the other end, they were greeted to a decently sized room that held a few rows of elevator doors.

Plenty of workers were flittering about as they waited around for lifts to arrive. Some were walking off the opened ones with hurried steps and there seemed to be an overall feeling of productivity as people quickly worked their way around one another to get to their destinations.

Again, Erin waved them over to the end of the line of elevators where not a lot of people were standing around.

"These are the employee and freighter elevators. They can carry people as well as a lot of supplies or weight at one time and are pretty large. They need to be because there's a lot of people that work here and these things need to be able to carry a lot at one time to get them all to where they need to be. The other reason these guys are so big is because there are plenty of heavy loads need to be able to easily go from floor to floor."

A hand must have been raised because Erin pointed a finger over Peter's shoulder and a voice spoke up. He turned to see that it was Jason Wolfe, a fellow nerd like Ned and Peter who loved to talk about Lego stuff with the two friends sometimes.

"Where are we headed?"

"We are going a few floors up from here, to level twenty-seven, to see another exhibit. That one holds a lot of the more technological things that I am sure you guys will like seeing as you guys are engineering students. But don't worry, I won't just be taking you guys to museums the whole time. I'll show you guys my lab and some other cool things that not a lot of people get to see on their tours."

There was an excited murmur at those last words and Erin looked a little smug as she preened under their awed looks.

"So can I ask about the badges here? I've seen the different colors that people are wearing and have been wondering for a while now," Jason then said.

"Oh!" Erin gave a look of surprise, "I guess I never said anything about that, huh? Sorry you guys, I guess it just slipped my mind. Of course I can tell you."

Finally, something that Peter was curious about. He hoped he did not look as interested as everyone else, but he just could not help himself with wondering what the differing colors meant and where his apparent Red clearance level fit into the whole thing.

"Well," Erin began, "If you remember, I said that there is a total of 4,900 people that work here. Broken down, these people are put into one of five levels of security and given a clearance level. Of that big number I just gave you, 4,032 of them are level 1 and wear a Blue badge."

"Really? But that's practically everyone here!" Casey said with wide eyes.

"You're right, but when you think about it, it would make sense for less people to be at a higher level," Erin said. "Next, at level 2, there are a total of 672 workers that wear a Purple badge. As you know, I am part of the 168 that wear Green which at level 3.

"And right above me is level 4 which are the Yellows. There are only 28 people in the entire building who have the privilege of wearing that color. Though you might hear some people call them The Golds instead. Personally, I don't care and wind up saying the two things interchangeably, but you gotta admit, Gold sounds cooler."

"What about level five?" Kevin asked. He was one of the students that had not been there to hear F.R.I.D.A.Y. say Peter's level and did not know that what he just said made a few of the group pause to sneak a look at Peter.

It was obvious when put together that Erin had talked about four out of the five levels and red had not been spoken about yet. The easiest conclusion was that what they were about to hear would be what they were expecting – Peter to be placed at the top of security priority.

Erin spoke then before anymore thoughts could run rampant through their minds, "That's right. Level 5." Even she spared a look to Peter but everyone but him missed the look as it was so brief. "That would be Red and only eight people here have that. Also, if you did your math, you would realize that these some of those people are not employed here. Remember when I talked about Tony Stark having a pass too though he does not technically work here? He's on this level."

Eyes grew as large as saucers at that. Now, those that had known about the metal detector debacle were not trying to be subtle in looking at Peter with the new knowledge shining in their eyes.

The other half of the group was confused, and Peter was not about to say anything to fill them in. He was fine dying of embarrassment right then, thank you very much. Just let some hot air melt him into a small puddle and let him fall into some random grate, never to see daylight ever again.

Shani Kanaan, one of the more level-headed girls who loved learning (and would prefer to ignore gossip such as what Peter really did in the building as a level Red) asked a question to shift the attention back to the tour. "What do these people that have these colors do then? Surely you don't mean to say that there are 28 Yellows and all they do is science and lab work. What about janitorial workers? Security guards? Maintenance crews?"

The pleased look that Erin gave Shani at those questions spoke of how many people did not usually ask such a thing.

"Very excellent question! And you're right. Those 28 people are not all workers that get to do lab stuff all day. Those 28 are divided into four sections. Two of them are custodians, two are security guards, and three are maintenance. The rest are divided into the business side with 10 people and the science with 11. Those numbers fluctuate as you go back down in level and as you can imagine, the number gets bigger too since there are more people to fill those different roles. At the bottom where most people work is where we also branch out a lot. There are a whole bunch of divisions which I will not bore you with. Just know that the higher up you go, the more responsibilities we have."

When it looked like no one else had any questions, the red head then turned around and swiped her green badge over a keypad that was next to a set of elevator doors.

Erin seemed a bit surprised to see that it was taking a few moments for the door to open, "It's probably being used by someone from my floor."

Sure enough, a few moments later, the doors slipped open and the students were greeted to the sight of a single man in the elevator, holding a clipboard and leaning against a large object that was covered by a white cloth and took up half of the elevators space.

"Oh hey, Erin." The man said as he looked up from his clip board to Erin then looked behind her at the group of kids. "Guess you're on a tour then."

"Sure am," Erin said as she greeted the man with a nod. She turned back to her group as she swept an arm out and gestured to the man, "Everyone, this is Kaito Fischer. He works directly under me and as you can see, he is also a Green badge holder."

Kaito gave a casual wave of his hand as the group waved back while a few of them tried to get a peek at what was under the cloth. Erin then seemed to realize that the object did indeed take up a lot of space within the lift. She seemed to be having an inner debate as Peter watched her give a small frown and bite her lip briefly.

"Hey Kaito, would mind helping me out with these guys?"

"Sure thing. Whatcha need, boss?"

"Can you left half of these guys get in with you? And let them off at floor twenty-seven before you head on up?"

Kaito had a look on his face that spoke of how much he wanted to do that, but eventually gave a sigh and a nod. Erin gave a thanks and then split the group apart with six students and Mr. Johnson getting into the elevator. The door closed after the rest got a peek of Kaito leaning down for his badge to be read by a scanner on the inside of the lift.

Once that was taken care of, Erin simply walked over to the next available elevator and did the same scan with her green pass.

A soft ding told them when the elevator was there and this time, the space was empty of anyone or anything. She happily gestured for them to step in before she did.

As the door closed, Peter widened his eyes when he finally realized that back in the other room, Steve had never answered his question about his favorite hero. He scrunched his nose in both frustration and humor at being swept up in the moment and forgetting that he had asked the older man a question in the first place.

Peter started planning out ideas on what he could do to get back at the older man later.

.

* * *

.

Erin quickly leaned down like Kaito had and let the scanner on the inside of the lift read her badge. F.R.I.D.A.Y. spoke the same words she had said at the metal detector and then asked for a floor to be stated. Erin replied with 27 and everyone felt the familiar push of gravity upon their shoulders as they headed up.

"So what floor numbers do the different badges get access to?" Kevin asked as he looked up at a screen at the top of the lift that continuously flashed different numbers as they kept rising.

"Well, there are 82 floors here at Stark Tower and of those, almost everyone is able to be on about half of those floors. Blue gets access to the ground floor all the way up to 35. Purple is 45 while I get up to 55. The Golds go all the way to 65 while the eight Reds have all the way up to 82. Though honestly, the actual floors that hold the business and sciences of this company are on floor 65 or are below that to make sure most people here don't have to worry about clearance. It's only the super important things that are on higher floors."

"Well then what is on floors 66 to 82 then? Only eight people get to be on all those floors?"

Erin seemed to frown then as she stared at the shiny elevator doors, "Honestly, I don't know too much about what goes on up there. Never actually been up there myself."

The nine students fell silent at those words and it soon filled the space. Peter felt someone shifting around him and saw from his peripheral that Samantha was sneaking looks at him. He gave a small frown in confusion and waited to see if she would say what was clearly on her mind.

"Hey, Peter?" She finally asked when she looked up and met his gaze.

"Yeah?"

"I, uh, I just wanted to say sorry for back there."

Now Peter's confused frown was even deeper, "Sorry for what?"

Samantha looked down for a moment and there seemed to be a bit of pink on her cheekbones. "I didn't know it at the time, but before we left there, I saw you give Captain America a hug. He looked real happy about it so I thought that you two were close somehow. So, I just wanted to say sorry for how I shouted his name earlier when it looked like he was trying to stay hidden and talk to just you and Ned."

"Oh," was all Peter was able to let escape from himself as he watched the others turn to listen in since they had obviously heard everything. He then gave what he hoped was a casual shrug, "It's alright. His horrible excuse of a disguise was bound to make him found out sooner or later."

There were a few unsure chuckles then, but it seemed like Samantha's words had been all they needed to start speaking up themselves.

"So do you know the other Avengers?" Kevin asked.

"A little bit, but honestly, I'm just around Mr. Stark most of the time. Though I have met Pepper Potts a handful of times and obviously Mr. Rogers."

"So you are an intern! I always knew that Flash was such a liar," Samantha chimed in again as she leaned a bit into Peter's space.

Her friend, Casey, nodded and softly said, "That's so cool, Peter! So, what do you do then as a Red badge intern?"

"O-oh," he stuttered, not knowing what to say. But then he thought about what Mr. Stark had said three weeks ago when Peter had finally let the cat out of the bag. The older man had said that the work that Peter had already been doing before he had officially became an intern, was what he would be doing now – just with a job title as a bonus.

Knowing now that it would be easier, Peter confidently said, "Well, I help Mr. Stark out sometimes with little things. He lets me tinker with his line of latest phones and tablets, lets me work one a few of my own ideas, and just other little things. I even got to help with taking care of his Iron Man suits once," most of them had wide eyes at that last thing and Peter quickly said something before their thoughts could run wild, "And by that, I mean that I only got to touch one once and clean it. I didn't actually work on any of them."

"Still," Kevin said with a grin as he patted Peter on the shoulder, "You got to touch a freaking Iron Man suit that has been worn by Tony Stark. So cool, man!"

"So, how did you get the gig," Erin finally said since she had also easily heard what was being said in such a small space.

"Oh, you know, I just made a great first impression I guess."

"You do know that only college students are able to apply for the internship program here, right kid?"

"Uh, yeah I do, but like I said, I honestly just happened to be at the right place at the right time. I bet that if someone else had been where I had been, they would be standing here instead."

Erin gave a hesitant nod as she thought to herself before speaking up, "Well, regardless, I think it's pretty cool too. You seem like you got a good head on your shoulders there and if Mr. Stark likes you enough to hire you so young, who am I to judge?"

It felt nice to recognized by someone who Peter could consider a type of coworker. He smiled at her in thanks and she easily smiled back.

"By the way, you guys," she said as she turned away from Peter to address everyone instead, "Is Flash that kid who thought he knew who Captain Rogers would choose between Iron Man and Spider-man?"

Almost at once, they all said yes.

Erin turned back to the front then as the elevator finally reached its destination. She gave a simple, "Hmm," as a small frown grew between her brows again. She then stepped off the lift and onto the floor once she made sure that everyone else had gotten off before her and herded them into another group as they waited for the other half of the group to arrive.

**End Chapter Three**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please feel free to let me know what you think of the story. Also, if you have some fun little ideas, please do so! I would love to try and add a few things that you guys want to see.


	4. Strange Sightings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story just keeps getting bigger and bigger and honestly, I feel like I don't deserve it. Regardless, thank you guys so much for loving what I am writing and wanting to see more!
> 
> Thanks Artemisz for your art!

**Posted September 11, 2018 … Revised December 26, 2018**

* * *

 As Peter and his classmates stepped onto floor twenty-seven and into another long hallway, he turned back to see Erin suddenly wrapped up in her phone.

She almost let the sliding doors close on her and she gave a small squeak of surprise at almost being squished. Instead, at the slightest touch of her hand in her instinct to stop them from getting her, the doors slid back open at the lightest touch of her hand.

A small chuckle escaped Peter at the sight and he could hear a few quiet snickers around him too at seeing the red head look a bit flustered for the first time since they had met her. She turned to glare at them, but Peter saw her own lips curl into a smile as she turned away from them to look back at her phone.

Her attention was still on the device, but her clear voice rang out as she waved her arm over to herself, "Come over here you guys so you're not blocking the way. Just give me a few minutes to do something real quick, please."

Her nails regularly tapped across the touchscreen of her phone as she moved at a speed even Peter was impressed with – and he was a teenager who was always on his phone.

His curiosity grew a little then, wondering who she was speaking to, but he soon lost interest, thinking it was probably for work or a friend.

Taking the time to look around, though not seeing much since they were still in the small hallway where the elevators were located, Peter noticed that the other half of his class was not there yet. They might have been stopped a few times on the way up.

Plenty of people were beginning to fill up the room they were in, both leaving and arriving through the lifts. It was like organized chaos seeing everyone easily move around one another and Peter thought it was fascinating to watch.

Ned nudged Peter then and when he looked over, the other teen said, "They all kind of look like Legos, huh? With their blocky suits and briefcases."

A laugh escaped Peter and he nodded, "Yeah, you're right! Now I kind of want to build this place. Hey, you think there is an actual box set of Stark Tower?"

" _Dude!_ I bet there totally is. How come we never thought of that before?"

"Beats me. But if there isn't, let's just make one ourselves. Bet we could make it better on our own anyways."

"True. And we can add things to improve the real thing."

Peter did not know it then, but the other half of their tour group had finally arrived, and just behind him, Flash stood there and had heard their conversation.

"Legos?" Peter jumped at hearing Flash's voice just behind him.

It was a reaction that he had for a few reasons.

The first being because he did not hear him arrive since they were standing in a loud area and thus his hearing had been useless. The other reason was because Peter would never allow someone like Flash Thompson to be at his back where he was vulnerable. There were simply too many reasons why _that_ was a bad thing.

When he finally turned to face the other, the young hero spotted the sneer that raised one side of Flash's nose, "What're you guys, nine? Who the hell plays with those kid toys when they're in high school?"

"Hey, it's not like we're asking others to build them," Peter said with a weak shrug.

"Well it's stupid. I can't believe you guys are almost adults." Flash gave an exaggerated eye roll at his own words as he crossed his arms over a puffed out chest.

"Hey, Pete just said that it's our own lives. We can do whatever the hell we want. Why do you care what we do? And besides, Legos are cool."

Peter silently nodded in agreement.

"I don't care what you girls do together in behind closed doors," the two friends rolled with eyes this time at the double meaning, "but I don't want to have to listen to you two get all weird when you try to brag about making something with thousands of dumb plastic bricks."

Peter and Ned kept quiet then, not knowing what else they could say to get Flash to stop talking to them.

Erin's tapping seemed to pick up then though Peter was sure it was his imagination just trying to fill the space with something else that was not Flash's ugly face.

Ned and Peter refused to say anything else to Flash and so the three of them wound up standing there, glaring at one another as the silence continued for a few more seconds.

Erin finally put her phone away after she noticed that everyone had gathered together once again. "Alight you guys! Welcome to floor twenty-seven. In the grand scheme of things, we are not that high up into the tower, but there are some fun things that are around this floor. So why don't you follow me this way, please, and we can see some interesting stuff."

Erin made another gestural wave with her arm as she turned to head down the hall and into the rest of the floor.

Once they stepped out and into the museum, Peter saw it was another grand space that made it seem like they were on the ground floor all over again.

The entire room was another large space that was tiled with eye catching designs and filled with bright, warm lights. Everything seemed to echo and go on forever. Stylish windows were on every wall, letting people see the view of New York from each direction.

Above them, there was a large rectangular cut out that led right into the upper floors. Again, a glass half wall was the safety rail for the onlookers up above and as their tour group walked further in, Peter felt his head progressively tilt further back as he noticed that the hole went up to at least a few floors.

Objects peeked out from over the glass railing from the higher floors and though it was not much, Peter could easily guess that they were more things to look at in the museum. It told Peter that this place had five entire floors dedicated to it.

So cool.

Plenty of people were walking through the place, wearing all different colored lanyards. For the most part, they were black and blue, but other colors did pop in occasionally. The volume was a sort of droning noise, but it was surprisingly not difficult to hear someone that stood nearby.

Looking up again, Peter tried to get a look at what might be on the other floors when he spotted a head hanging over the glass rail. They pulled back to hide when Peter got just the barest hint of a glance at them though he could still spot a pair of hands that were griping the railing.

He blinked in shock and when he opened them not even half a second later, the figure was completely gone and Peter was left wondering if there had even been anyone there to begin with.

Peter shook his head to get rid of the thought and instead let a bright smile grow alongside his excitement in anticipation at what he might see in here. Ned touched his shoulder with his own and they traded giddy look. They wanted to run off right away, but Erin's voice stopped that train of thought.

"Welcome, to Trinkets Hall!" She made small jazz hands at her own words. "Before you ask, yes, I know that it is a bit of an odd title and yes, Mr. Stark named it himself."

She looked as eager as everyone else as she watched them continue to look around in awe. "Once again, be mindful of not touching anything and just being careful. You can go up to the twenty-eighth floor using the escalators over on the east side of the room. Don't bother trying to go up to the higher floors. There are no escalators to take you and you need workers pass to even get up there. We will go there together after looking around down here. I'm going to be walking around too so if you want to listen in on what I can add to some of the displays, stick around.

"One last thing. Since there are two floors to explore, I'm thinking that half an hour is a good enough time to see everything to your little heart desire. At a quarter after eleven, please make your way back here to the elevators. Otherwise, have fun," she said before she stepped aside and let them explore on their own.

Peter and Ned raced off right away. They found themselves standing in front of another Iron Man suit only this time, the small plaque said it was the real deal and not a replica like those downstairs.

"Dude, this is so cool!" Ned said as he got as close as he could without pressing his face on the glass case.

"I know, right? I mean, I get to see some of the newest stuff in person," Peter whispered, "But this is like, the original Mark IV!"

The two walked along the outside ring of the floor first, taking in the sights of the streets below at the same time as they admired more Iron Man suits. They even came across the occasional Stark item that had either been scrapped right after inception or smaller things from the other heroes such as an older version of Hawkeye's arrows, a prototype shield that Howard Stark had thought up before Vibranium had been introduced, and even a small, black, bug-like object that Black Widow had used for tailing people.

Once they walked the perimeter of the floor, the finally stepped into the middle of the large room where there were false walls and rooms that were made of simple while boards to separate things by section.

At one point, the two came across another Iron Man suit that had been strung up so that one could view it as it would look when flying.

The two friends gushed over it like the nerdy teens they were and smiles never left their faces.

From just in between the suit legs, as Peter was looking up at it from below, he got another view of the floors above and once again, he thought he spotted someone looking down at him. Peter frowned and tried calling Ned's attention to it but when he turned back to look, the figure was gone once more.

The weird feeling in Peter's stomach would not go away and though he did not feel like he was in a hostile situation since his spider sense had not gone off, Peter thought was still weird and just plain creepy.

He did not get a good look at the person both times, but he was sure that they were at least wearing a baseball cap like Steve had worn, though this one had been black. The figure had also appeared quite androgynous in both slim figure and their clothing choice, making it all the more difficult for Peter to guess who it might have been.

Ignoring it once more (or at least trying to) Peter dragged Ned over to the next section. This time, they crossed paths with Erin.

As she had said before, she was casually walking around the objects displayed and giving a bit of extra info to Mr. Johnson and the remaining three students that had decided to not walk off on their own.

Noticing that she was headed down an isle that they had not yet been to, Peter and Ned traded a look before shrugging and following the red head.

She spoke about some of the other inventions that Tony had made throughout the last few years and even mentioned a few bits of information on those objects that were not common knowledge. Overall, the two friends found it fun and interesting to take a bit of time to slowly admire a few things displayed instead of rushing off at the nearest shiny thing.

At one point, Flash came wandering over by himself and made a few remarks to Peter and Ned about their Legos again. He eyed objects like the rest of them with wonder but anytime he lost interest, he would seek out the two of them to fill his boredom.

Mostly, however, he kept badgering Peter, trying to get him to talk about Stark Industries. He started off by questioning if Peter really was an intern working in such an important place and Peter just meekly nodded. Flash reluctantly agreed with the fact once Erin stopped talking long enough to face Flash and confirmed that Peter was indeed an intern.

Flash grumbled a bit at Erin's back after she turned around to continue talking.

Peter realized that Flash still had no idea about his clearance level however, and the young hero was all too glad to keep it that way.

When everyone was enraptured by another object that Erin was speaking about, Flash glanced at Peter once again and started badgering about how Peter must have done something to sneak in or buy his way into his position.

He and Ned tried their best to ignore the bully's words and tried to stick close to Erin and Mr. Johnson.

Flash tended to say whatever was on his mind with no filter and eventually, Mr. Johnson began hearing parts of what he had to say. The teacher would either glare at Flash and tell him to behave or he would direct him away from the group for a moment to talk to him one-on-one. Peter was not sure how well the talks went since Flash would come back and stay quiet for a moment or two before saying something again to Peter.

Peter knew that Mr. Johnson was trying his best, but it was frustrating to see that Flash was basically getting away with a verbal slap to the wrist when he was making remarks.

It was still annoying to be asked why he was a liar for saying he worked here and then being mocked about how he got the position.

Peter would repeatedly say that he got in on recommendation, but Flash would simply shrug his shoulders, saying that if he gave Peter the benefit of the doubt, there was no way that he was anything better than a cleaning boy who took care of the toilets on the lower levels.

All the while, when Peter would do everything in his power to get Flash to stop bugging him, he would catch Erin looking their way and stopping her speech for just a second or two. When she would catch Peter's eye, she would turn back to the small group and continue speaking until Flash said something else when she would look over once more.

It was a small blessing when Flash finally got bored of both pestering the two friends and listening to Erin talk.

He walked away soon enough, and the group resumed their tour while Peter and Ned were glad to not have to listen to Flash's voice anymore.

They also enjoyed being able to get to know a bit more about Erin when she spoke about stuff that were clearly interesting to her and surprisingly, Mr. Johnson. He eagerly spoke about a few things that he was familiar with in the lineup of objects as they walked through the small maze that was the twenty-seventh floor.

One small hand-sized item that had been Howard Stark's idea of a portable phone all the way back in the late sixties had apparently been Mr. Johnson's thesis for when he had graduated from M.I.T.

He happily recounted a few details that he remembered from his paper and Erin gave smiles and nods in agreement with what he said, making Peter feel impressed that he had someone kind of cool for a teacher.

The impressed feeling left when he saw that familiar head once again over Mr. Johnson's shoulder before they melted back into the crowd. The figure was apparently done being on the floor above and was now closer to Peter. The mix of feelings did not leave him at seeing the mystery person.

One time, it is odd. Two times, it is a coincidence. Three times, it is a pattern and almost certainly intentional.

Anger overtook any other emotion and having enough with being stalked, Peter briskly headed over, leaving Erin's small tour. Or at least, he tried to, but this part of the floor was filled with a lot of foot traffic and the crowd was hard to weave his way through.

At one point, he heard Ned call his name and his brief panting as he rushed to follow his friend.

The flow of the crowd pulled Peter away from where he last saw the person and he wound up both losing the person and landing near the elevators. The short-lived anger left him when he lost sight and the young hero simply sighed in exasperation. He turned when he heard Ned had caught up

"Dude, what's the hurry?"

"Sorry, Ned. I just – I thought I had a stalker or something and I was going to confront them."

"A stalker?! Pete, you can't run off on your own then! What if you got kidnapped," Ned reached out to put hand on Peter's shoulder at though confirming for himself that his best friend was still in front of him.

"Uh, you do remember who you're talking to, right? I'm on the web."

"Oh. Right. But that doesn't mean that you're invincible you know. Just be safer for my own sanity, please."

With tilted eyebrows, Peter gave a breathy laugh in apology, "Right. Sorry for scaring you, man."

Peter then turned back around, planning to go back to searching once more but was stopped as he suddenly bumped into someone. He gave an ungraceful, "Omph!" at the impact and squeezed his eyes on reflex.

A feminine voice gave a similar sound and grabbed one of Peter's shoulders to stop herself from falling back.

"Hey, you two okay?" Ned asked from behind before he stepped to the side to see who he had collided with.

That was when Peter finally recovered and opened his eyes to a mass of strawberry blonde hair right in front of him. The hair moved away suddenly as the woman stood to her full height and a very familiar face filled his vision, though her eyes were only on his for a fraction of a moment before she looked down at a phone in her hand.

"I'm sorry," her kind voice said as a hand grabbed his shoulder again as through seeing is he was still in one piece, "I didn't see you there."

The woman finally looked up from the device as she put it down on a handful of documents that rested in her arms and her eyes widened in surprise as well, "Oh, Peter!" Pepper Potts said as she took a step back in surprise and straightened out her suit jacket.

"Ms. Potts! What are you doing here?" Peter blurted out the first thought at passed through his mind.

"Hi Ms. Potts!" Ned happily said with a small wave and a grin as he briefly interrupted.

Pepper turned to him with her own small smile, "Hello again, Ned."

The teen gave a quiet squeak in happiness that Peter was sure only he could hear. He fondly rolled his eyes at Ned's antics.

"Just doing some security thing, don't worry," Pepper finally said in response to Peter's question. "Wait," she paused her thoughts as she looked Peter up and down once more with a frown before realization lit up upon her face. "Oh! I didn't realize that the Red Badge they were talking about was you," she mumbled to herself though Peter easily heard.

When her words connected, he said, "What? You know I'm Red?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Peter realized how stupid that sounded. Of course Pepper Potts, _the C.E.O_. of Stark Industries would know everyone who had a Red Badge seeing as there were only eight people in the whole world who had one.

It seemed that she also took his words as an odd thing as she gave another look with a raised eyebrow and a playful grin before she spoke once more, "I sure do, Pete."

"But what are you doing here then? What's the security problem? Can I help?" He eagerly asked as he let the sarcastic tone wash right over him.

"Actually, you are kind of the security thing."

"Really?" Peter and Ned simultaneously.

Pepper gave a nod.

"I got a call from one of my assistants. Apparently, he got a call from another Yellow holder who said that a Green holder said that there was something going on with a Red holder and that I should be notified."

The long string of words did not help Peter's confusion and he knew that his face said so when Pepper calmed down and gave a tilt of her eyebrows, "Sorry, Pete. I meant that there was some back and forth about there being a problem about harassment and that I should be made aware."

"Oh!" Peter said as he remembered what he had just been doing before he ran into the woman. "Yeah, actually there is something going on. There's some weirdo that I've seen looking at me and Ned. I mean, I think it was because of me but now that I think about it, maybe they were watching Ned?"

"Wait, what?" Ned eloquently asked as he eyes widened in worry, "I'm the target?!"

Pepper mimicked his worry as she turned back to Peter, "There's someone watching you, Peter?"

"Uh, yeah. I mean, isn't that what you said you were here for?"

"No, I said that I just I got a call that someone filled a report about there being a problem about harassment. And I got roped into is because it was someone with a Red clearance. I actually couldn't believe it at first considering who all had Red, but it's always better to be safe than sorry."

"Hey!" Peter said as he frantically waved his arms in a weird fashion "I'm not harassing anyone, I swear, Pepper!" The worried look was genuine, and Pepper tried her hardest to now laugh at his confusion.

"No, I didn't mean that _you_ were harassing someone, I meant that someone else was harassing you."

"Oh." Peter happily slumped his shoulders at those words before he straightened up when he realized it was the other way around. "Uh, yeah, no. I mean, no I don't think that I'm being harassed? I don't know where you got that information, but don't worry Ms. Potts, I'm okay. Like I said, it was just some weirdo looking at me from a distance."

"Are you sure?" she said as she clutched her papers in one arm and let the other cup his shoulder. Pepper gave a brief squeeze to show her support and Peter shifted as he gave shrug.

"Pretty sure."

"I beg to differ," a voice said from off to the side from where they were standing.

The three all turned to see Erin standing there with a mild look of frustration on her face.

.

* * *

.

"Erin, there you are," Pepper said in greeting as the other woman walked up to them.

After his small crash into Pepper, she had been smart enough to drag her and the two teens over to a wall where they could have a bit of privacy.

It seemed as though Erin had either finished or stopped her tour of the room as none of the other students and Mr. Johnson were around her. Peter spotted a few of them nearby looking at another exhibit and they were at least far enough way as to not hear what they were talking about should they try to listen in.

The darker red head nodded her head, "Hello Ms. Potts."

"Oh, no need for that, Pepper is just fine."

Erin gave a smile and nod in understanding before she turned back to Peter. "And sorry to say, Mr. Parker, but I believe I know what I saw, so don't deny it."

"Deny what?" The teen asked, genuinely not knowing what his tour guide was speaking about. He looked over to Ned to see what if he knew the answer, but he just gave a shrug of his own shoulders.

"That Thompson kid. He's a real piece of work and I had the unfortunate privilege of hearing him say quite a few rude things to you and Mr. Leeds."

"Oh, really?" Pepper asked as she turned back to Peter with a hand on her hip.

He refused to look at her and instead thought the wall behind her was very interesting. "Oh, that? Yeah that's no big deal. I'm used to that. It's okay. Really."

When he turned back, he was greeted to the two women glaring at him with arms on their hips.

The sight did nothing to ease his nerves and Pepper seemed to notice that as she quickly dropped her unoccupied hand and moved towards him again. He eventually felt himself wrapped in her arms and he caught scent of her familiar perfume. It was relaxing, and Peter felt himself lightly placing his hands on her back in a brief hug.

"Pete? What's going on?" She asked once she pulled back.

"It's like I said, Pepper, nothing I can't handle," Peter said, switching to calling her by her first name. It helped him feel a bit better, talking to the woman as an aunt-like figure instead of a boss.

"Well it sounds to me like you aren't 'handling' it and instead are just letting it happen when something could be done to stop it."

"It's not that simple-"

"Yes, it is! Peter, if someone is bullying you, I want to be able to help you. And how would you feel if you knew that just Ned was being picked on and he never said anything to you?"

He looked over to see Ned looking at him with pursed lips that gave away how much he agreed with Pepper. His begging eyes told him that Ned wanted Peter to say something.

"I would feel horrible. Okay, I see your point, but Pepper," Peter paused as he spared a pointed look at Erin, "I kinda figured it would be best to leave it alone considering a few things." He hoped his got his point across about not saying everything because Erin was still there and she did not know his second identity.

It worked, and Pepper snuck a glance at the other red head before she turned back to Peter and gave a nod. "Hey, Erin?"

"Yes, Pepper?"

"If you don't mind, I would like to speak with Peter and Ned alone. Thank you for filling something about this and grabbing my attention."

"It's no problem. I hope you're not mad at me for doing something," she said as she turned back to Peter.

Peter lifted a shoulder in a half shrug, "It's okay I guess. Flash's a jerk, so someone was bound to say or do something eventually."

Erin narrowed her eyes and said, "I would use something stronger than jerk," as she turned around and headed back to find some of her tour group.

Pepper gave a laugh and nodded in agreement before she turned back to the matter at hand. "Alright, Pete. Tell me what's going on, please. And don't think you can get out of this time."

He and Ned traded a look of uncertainty. They had never really told an adult before about Flash. Sure, Peter complained about him to May, but his aunt just knew the guy as some loudmouth in that he shared a few classes with.

The two friends had a silent conversation with eyebrow movements, eye lids, and shoulders. It was slightly amusing for Pepper but after more than a few minutes of their silent display, she put her foot down as told them someone better start talking.

"Well, I guess, uh, Flash is some guy at school that likes to, uh, make fun of us?"

"And what words does he use to 'make fun'?"

"Oh, you know, the regular stuff I guess. It's no big deal."

"No, I don't know. Enlighten me, please." Pepper said as she impatiently began tapping the floor with one of heeled shoes.

It seemed that Ned had enough of Peter's egg shell walking and blurted out, "He calls me Dead because it rhymes with dead, and he always calls me fat or something else about my weight. And he calls Peter Penis, thinking it's hilarious and even tried to get in fights with Peter sometimes.

"He does _what_?!" Pepper almost shouted as she leaned in to make sure no one else could listen in on their conversation.

"Dude!" Peter said as he turned to Ned.

"Sorry, man but I just can't take it anymore. You should be sticking up for yourself for a lot of reasons. I mean, to be fair, I should be too, but he freaking tries to get in fights with you, man! We are _all_ not kids anymore, and Flash needs to grow up and if he can't do that on his own, then someone else needs to do it for him."

"Thank you, Ned. Couldn't have said it better myself. Though I have to add in there that you should also not let this slide because you think you're Spider-man and Spider-man can take it or deal with some bully. You're Peter Parker too and no matter _who_ you are, no one deserve to be verbally or physically picked on."

The teen looked back and forth between Ned and Pepper, biting his lip in thought.

He finally took in a deep breath and let it out slowly through his nose. "Alright."

"Alright?" Pepper egged on.

"Alright, you can help. Or, I mean, I would like help, please, in dealing with maybe a _minor_ problem that I am having concerning a fellow student."

"Peter don't try to make this sound all formal or something just so that you can take away from how serious this is. It's not a minor problem and I want to help you solve this in the first place. Please let me."

He rubbed his damp hands on his jeans as he looked down briefly before finding Pepper's eyes again. "Okay. And I mean it this time, Pep. I don't want to be a verbal or physical punching bag anymore and I don't want to see my best friend be teased because of his name or his weight or his love for Legos. I want to be able to graduate like a normal person who does not have to deal with looking behind their back all the time in the halls because some jackass wants to call me names or push me into lockers."

Pepper's smile was a bit shaky and her eyes were watery, but her entire behind radiated how proud she was of Peter for saying such words. She opened her arms in invitation, and Peter easily stepped into her embrace, once again catching the scent of her perfume. He peeked over her shoulder and saw Ned giving him his own large smile and a thumbs up.

"Okay," she said as she pulled back. Her posture reverted back to business mode and she gave a nod to herself as though mentally reverting as well. "I need to go back to work for a few more hours, but when I am done, around oh, four o'clock, I will start working this out. Maybe I'll call the school or something. Pull a few strings as the C.E.O. of this place. Whatever I need to do, Peter, I will do it to help you and Ned."

Peter and Ned gave her twin grins at those words and they hugged her at the same time.

"Thank you, Pep."

"Yeah, thanks Ms. Potts!"

"Well, you're lucky that Tony is in an important meeting right now. If he wasn't, you can bet that I would being calling him right this second to talk all about this and hash out a plan."

"Are you going to be calling him after the meeting?"

"You know me so well Peter," she said with a sly smirk.

"Great," he mumbled, "Now he'll know I'm here for sure. Just – please convince him to not come and find me. If he does, I don't want to be mortified by anything he might try to do to push my buttons. And even though I kind of do want him to do something to Flash, please tell him not too."

"You know I can't promise something like that, Pete. Do you know who you're talking about?"

"Yeah." He closed his eyes as he gave a deep sigh of acceptance. "How about promising me that you'll talk to him, so he won't do something completely embarrassing."

"Sorry again, Peter. I'll try my best because I know how much you want to be a normal high schooler, but I can give no promises. Also, you shouldn't spend the whole time worrying about something like that. He's going to be in the meeting for at least another hour or two. So maybe luck will be on your side and you'll be able to leave with your class without any problems."

Ned gave a laugh then. The two looked to him in question. "We all know we're talking about Peter, right? When has luck ever been on his side when it comes to avoiding any kind of trouble?"

Pepper laughed out right at that, gaining a few looks from passerby's. A few did a double take, not completely sure that they were seeing the C.E.O. of Stark Industries in front of them, standing next to two teenage boys.

Peter on the other hand, lightly shoved his best friend at his words. Ned went with the motion and took a step back with a large grin. Peter felt a reflection of the smile grow on his own face as he turned back to wave Pepper goodbye, he felt like a long overdue weight was finally lifted off his shoulders.

**End Chapter Four**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Erin's not blind! She knows what's up and she got ahold of the head honcho! Go Erin and go Pepper!
> 
> Also, as much fun as it was to put out four chapters in eight days, I have to say that I will be slowing down from now on. Classes are really picking up and that takes priority. I'm sure you guys understand, I just wanted to say it so that you know what's up.


	5. Crazy Circus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look! I’m not dead and I am still writing this story! 
> 
> Those numbers sure have climbed since I last posted and let me tell you, I just about lost my mind. I have not even been writing fan-fiction for a year yet and I cannot believe how much you guys want to read something I am putting out. 
> 
> Thank you for the kind words and the ideas/recommendations that you guys have given me! I have some slight direction with this story now (shh don’t tell anyone that I didn’t have direction before) but feel free to give more ideas! But I would like to ask that they be small things. Like what Character X can do in an interaction but not what Character X will do to show up in the story or along those lines.
> 
> Thanks Artemisz for your art!

Pepper left soon after that. Before the elevator doors could close on her face however, she used two fingers to gesture to her eyes then towards Peter, telling the teen quite clearly that she would be watching him. Whether that was a warning for him to behave or a gesture for him to take comfort in, he did not know.

She also quickly mouthed, "Keep an eye out for Tony!" before the doors finally closed.

His smile fell away at that reminder.

Peter was not sure how he should be currently feeling concerning the billionaire, but he just let an accepting sigh escape him as he turned back to Ned. "C'mon, we should probably get back to the tour."

Ned gave Peter a sympathetic pat to his back, "Don't worry, man. I bet Mr. Stark will be cool when we see him."

"Geeze, thanks Ned. Instead of giving me the false sense of security of getting through all this without seeing Mr. Stark, you just go and say that he'll be cool  _when_ he shows up."

Ned gave an unapologetic smile, "What can I say, I know you too well. You should just be glad that Mrs. Pepper is going to be taking care of it. Well, at least most of it."

"Ugh! Don't remind me! And I can't even tell you how wrong you are – Mr. Stark is  _so_ going to be doing something about this mess."

"Huh," Ned said as he lifted his eyes up in thought, "I wonder if I should be feeling sort of worried for Flash."

Peter looked up in thought as well. In almost complete synchronization, the two friends looked back down to face each other and said, "Nah," with a wave of their hands. They wound up snickering to each other at their unplanned action when they got close to Erin and her small group.

She gave them a smile and it made Peter realize that she was probably happy to see that they had likely gotten the issue with Pepper solved.

After that, time seemed to move a bit quicker as she eagerly went back to giving her small group a tour. The thirty minutes ended and once more, everyone was gathered in front of the elevators. There were no problems this time and all seventeen of them easily fit in at the same time.

.

* * *

.

With all the shuffling as the group made their way in, it unfortunately left Peter and Ned in one corner of the elevator with Flash.

The two spotted him give a nasty look as he eventually made his way past them and stood in the back right behind the two friends. Peter constantly felt Flash's gaze on the back of his head and the hairs on Peter's neck stood directly straight up.

As soon as Erin had placed her badge on the sensor and the lift moved, everyone shifted slightly as the machine began to ascend. Flash had gone with the motion and had quite obviously bumped into the two of them rather harshly and caused a few others to turn to look at the sound of Peter, Ned, and Flash's shuffling feet.

Erin was one of those pairs of eyes and when Flash saw her look, he hastily made an empty apology to Peter and Ned, and simply gave the excuse that he had lost his footing.

Peter was almost certain that no one believed him, but no one did anything to out the lie either.

The young hero was also fairly confident that his classmates were split in half when it came to staying on Flash's good side or not caring for the bully. Peter knew that no matter which side his peers were on, that did not mean that they felt any sympathy for Peter and Ned.

In Midtown, it was almost common knowledge that Peter and Ned were the kind of smart people who were also the nobodies with no friends who were geeks and had no social skills.

Peter always knew even before he accepted Tony's fake internship that there were only a handful of people in his entire school who did not think he and Ned were total losers. Even within that small group of people, only so many actually believed Peter when Flash let it out that Peter could and did in fact work in the building they were currently in. In fact, of the handful of people that could be considered on Peter and Ned's 'side' in the whole school, some of them were his classmates that were currently in the lift with them.

He was not so sure about Samantha being a person that he would consider being on his side seeing as she was known to bounce from one thought to the next and could be easily swayed with just a few words, but one that Peter was almost sure of was Jason.

Jason had known Peter and Ned ever since they were in grade seven together. He was simply the kind of person that did not have a single bad bone in their body. Jason always had a smile on his face and had even made the effort to talk to the two friends occasionally, even when the three of them did not have classes together.

Peter was not as close to Jason as he was with Ned, but if his best friend wasn't there way back when the two first met, Peter was almost sure that Jason would have become his man-in-the-chair.

Casey was another of his peers that Peter thought was another kind soul. She was a bit more timid than the rest but she was always honest and did her best to smile as well.

She tended to trail after Samantha however, and Peter felt that it both hindered the softer girl as well as perhaps swaying her to the thoughts and whims of Samantha.

Samantha was by no means a rude person or even a bully like Flash, but she did tend to be a bit strong minded and a no nonsense kind of person. Peter had been around a few times in the halls, passing her by when she would get into heated arguments with whoever was around be it fellow student or teacher.

Either way, Jason and Casey were two people that Peter very much appreciated when it came to him being able to tolerate his time at school. They were kind around him and never let the gossip and rumor affect how they thought of Peter and Ned, and the two were very grateful for that.

His thoughts drifted away from him once more as the elevator signaled their arrival.

.

* * *

.

As one, the group stepped off once more and Erin led them back out the hall that held the lifts and the small group was greeted the sight of a large rectangular glass railing.

Almost every student eagerly rushed forward to place their hands upon the rail and look down to the bottom floors where they had just been. A few stayed behind with Mr. Johnson, obviously scared of the visible height and were happy to let the rest of them peer down.

"As you can see," Erin began once more, "we are on the fifth floor of this museum. This is floor Thirty-One and though it is still technically a part of the Trinkets Hall, this place also goes by a second name. Can any of you guys based on what you see?"

Those last words forced Peter to tear his eyes away from the people and sights down below, and to look up across the large gap.

The first thing he noticed was that there were not as many people up here as there were on the lower floors of the museum. Not knowing if it was security thing or something else, Peter let the thought drift away be he focused on the objects that were displayed all around him.

It seemed like a mess at first.

There were a lot of different things that stood out like a metal mask, a bedazzled looking necklace, and oddly enough, some dentures with sharpened teeth.

There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to everything that Peter could see from where he stood, and he was almost certain that he would not be any closer if he got the chance to walk around for a minute to get a better idea.

"Uh, Lot's of Stuff Hall?" Flash asked.

"Well there is a lot of 'stuff' I will give you that, but nope. Anyone else?"

"A Whole Bunch of Things Hall?" Trent asked.

"Nice try, but no again. Anyone else? No? Well, I can't blame you for giving up. It's a bit of a funny one that most would probably not know."

"I bet Parker knows," Flash interrupted, "Right, Parker?"

Knowing that he would sound like a broken record if he opened his mouth to simply reply with a 'no', Peter just shook his head and tried to avoid eye contact.

Erin spared a glace between the two of them with thinned lips before she turned back to the group, "The top floor of this large museum collection had the nickname of 'Badass Souvenirs'. I'm sure I don't have to say who gave it that name, do I?"

A few chuckles and smiles showed that every knew almost right away who created such a name.

Peter felt his own laugh escape as he pictured Tony causally leaning against the glass railing, looking around with everything set up and just thinking aloud, 'Look at all these badass souvenirs we've collected over all our fights'.

His thoughts kept him away from Erin's small speech and Peter let his eyes drift around as he let her voice be a sort of background noise.

The things he could see displayed were quite different in a lot of ways but after realizing that they were mementos from things the Avengers had taken, Peter began noticed a few familiar things. Most were from missions that he had been on, but he also took notice of how one side of the floor was familiar from way back when the Avengers were first brought together.

It was also how Peter realized that the place was apparently organized to be like a timeline. Newer things were on his right with the whole room shifting back in time the further he looked to his left.

Peter did not know how to feel when he realized that he recognized more things from when he was a fan as opposed to now when he was part of the team.

That was also when Peter saw a familiar figure standing in a corner of the large room. Standing slightly behind another faux wall that divided parts of the museum into smaller sections, was the back of that shadowy person from earlier. They were walking around a few of the older things that not a lot of casual fans might have recognized.

It was his stalker, as Ned had said.

Like before, the figure was rather slim, giving off the androgyny that Peter had thought about earlier. With their back turned, he still could not tell who they were, and that previous adrenaline rush came back as he wanted to figure out who was spying on him.

Was it an enemy? Maybe it was a competitor with S.I. that was trying to get to someone like Pepper or Tony? Maybe they needed a Red holder then – it would make sense to follow him at least. But only so many people have that knowledge from when F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced it back at the security checkpoint.

Perhaps it is a villain also after Tony or some information that the Avengers have on the underground world. But then that would mean that they would know Peter's secret if they were following him.

All these thoughts had flown through Peter's mind to quickly and yet, in that time, Erin must have finished speaking as he noticed everyone splitting up and moving every which way to look at the displays.

He spared a look around was he watched everyone move, but Peter felt himself gravitating back to the figure.

When he looked back, the person had moved slightly, and Peter could almost get a peek of their profile. Their hat cast them in a shadow, but Peter got a good look of at least one eye staring directly at him from almost half way across the entire room.

Goosebumps grew along Peter's arms right away at their gaze.

A hand fell on his shoulder and though he would never admit it aloud, he jumped at the feeling. He turned to give Ned a glare since he took Peter's attention off the weirdo.

"Dude, c'mon! Erin said we can see whatever we want, and I want to go look at those awesome looking rings over there," Ned said as he pointed in the general direction of where the stalker was.

Not knowing if it was good or bad luck, Peter looked back over to see the person still lurking around over there but also moving around, as though trying to blend in a bit more.

"Yup. Sure. Let go," Peter eagerly said as he grabbed Ned's wrist to quickly drag him over to the rings that he had pointed out.

The two wound up very interested in the odd looking rings.

A plaque nearby said that they had belonged to some villain who had used them to attract people to do their bidding by falling in love with whoever was wearing the rings and had the rings touch them.

There was even a fun anecdote about how Thor had been captured before the team could defeat the woman who had been wearing the jewelry.

Peter eventually had to remind himself that this was not the main reason of why he came over here and once more, he searched out the person, hoping to solve this once and for all.

Ned was still occupied with the rings and a few things nearby.

Letting him do his own thing for a minute, since Peter hoped to get this over and done with as soon as he could, Peter snuck away when Ned had his face almost pressed against the glass case.

He wandered around a few other things, taking them in his peripheral as he tried to spot the figure. Thinking he might have missed his chance, Peter sighed internally and as he turned back to Ned, he finally saw them again.

Wasting no more time, and finding luck was on his side with the person hidden away in a corner where they could talk in private in case the person was a lunatic or even a violent person, he rushed over.

Shoulders hunched and spine straight, the teen hoped to look a bit more intimidating than he currently felt as he kept walking closer and closer, ready for this confrontation.

The height of the person was a bit taller than the hero had previously thought but he did not let it stop him from reaching out to their shoulder when he finally got close enough. He might have been a bit more forceful than was necessary but who could blame the teen. This was a person that had obviously been following him for a while now and Peter had had enough.

"Whoa there!" A slightly deep voice said as they were twirled around. At least that confirmed that the person was most likely male.

With his determination still clouding his thoughts, Peter kept the frown on his face as he demanded, "Why are you following me?!"

"Dang, little dude. I figured that I was already caught when I saw you looking at me but why you gotta say it like I'm the bad guy?"

"Oh, I don't know, how about because you're some creep in all black walking around following a teenager. Who are you? Who do you work for? You a villain? Corporate competitor? A predator?"

"A  _predator_? Jesus, Pete, who do you think I am?" The voice had shifted from a deep confident tone to downright mortified and even a bit higher in pitch.

"A stalker, that's what!" Peter said as he grabbed the male's upper arm and squeezed it in his anger.

"Hey!" he said as he tried to pull of Peter's hand. "Pete, stop!"

"How do you know my name anyways?"

The man moved his hand away from his numbing shoulder to quickly pull off his hat. "Jeeze, Peter if you didn't recognize me, you should have just said so."

Clint Barton stashed the hat under his arm as he ruffled his hair and once again dropped his hand atop Peter's in hope of recovering his arm.

"Wha-" Peter said as he stepped back with wide eyes and an open mouth. His hand fell from away from Clint and it weakly swung back down to his side. " _Clint_?!"

The volume of Peter's voice was embarrassingly loud in the large room. There were people around talking enough to drown out a bit of the shout, but Peter's surprise got the best of him, making a few people start looking around their general direction to see what caused such a tone.

Peter lowered his eyes and felt a rush of blood rise at so many looks from complete strangers and even a few from his classmates. He even felt Clint freeze up a bit at all the attention.

This time, it was Clint's hand on Peter's shoulder, causing the teen to look up at him. "Come on, we can talk over there," the archer said with a tilt of his head to another section that had a lot less people around.

By this point however, Peter also heard the distinct sound of Ned's voice calling for Peter and asking where he ran off to.

He halted in following Clint, feeling the older man's hand slip away from his shoulder as Peter tried to look around to find where Ned's voice was coming from.

The large teen finally rounded a wall, most likely following Peter's shout, and his face lit up at finally finding Peter. His eyes shifter over to Clint and Ned seemed to do a double take. He blinked a few times as though also not completely seeing Clint in the figure that stood before him before another amazed smile grew upon his face as he jogged the last few steps over to where Peter and Clint were standing.

"Damn Peter, what's with all the heroes coming out of the woodwork around here?"

"Beats me," Peter replied with a weak shrug and an equally weak smile.

"'All the heroes'? Who else has been around? I swear, if Thor or Sam have been down here already, someone is going to have to answer to me." Clint interrupted after he waved to Ned in greeting.

"Why are you worried about those two?"

"Because they are my greatest competitors when it comes to me being the fun one!"

"Wait. Hold on just a sec," Peter said as he waved his hands around as a sign to stop talking, "are you implying that they are going to show up at one point or another while I am on this freaking school field trip?"

Clint made a wiggle motion with his shoulders as he let them quickly rise and fall in a fast shrug. "Can't say that I know for sure. I was just guessing but they better not because they might do something entertaining and ruin my reputation of being cool."

"And why are  _you_ the fun one?" Ned asked.

"Yeah," Peter nodded, "I don't know if I would all you cool, Clint. Maybe funny but not cool."

"Hey!" Clint gave a small pout at those words before he replied, "Because those two other lugs are nothing but muscle. Do you think they can do this?" Clint then proceeded to bend backwards onto his hand. He swiftly transitioned to a handstand and then let his legs fall back too as he completed the slow backflip with an exaggerated pose with his arms out and his nose stuck in the air.

"Hey! Quit that!" Peter harshly whispered as he looked around. "Why do you have go all circus on me in public?"

"Public? We're in the tower."

"Well, yeah, but not at  _tower,_ tower. You're in a freaking museum! What if you knocked something over?"

"Okay, I see your point. But I am always aware of my surroundings, you know that, little dude." Clint then proceeded to extend an arm all the way out and it stopped just right in front of a glass display that held an expensive looking goblet.

Peter and Ned could not help but jump slightly at the speed at which Clint moved and how close he came to almost breaking the case.

Peter glared at the archer. "Don't scare us like that! With me here, I just  _know_ that if you did break something, Tony would come complaining to me and not you!"

Cling simply replied with a smug grin.

"Why were you following me anyways?" Peter then said once he realized that he had lost his previous train of thought. "It's been pretty weird and creepy just seeing you skulk around like that. Why do you think I hounded you with all those questions?"

Clint finally gave a look that spoke of guilt.

Ned and Peter traded a look, finally happy to figure out why the older man had been shadowing them.

"I… might have been given a small assignment."

"Which is?"

Clint looked away and puckered his lips in a childlike manor. He shifted his eyes back to look at Peter and Ned then looked back. "Let's just say, red heads can be real scary when they go in mama bear mode."

Having a vague idea of who he was talking about, but still not knowing one hundred percent seeing as he now knew three scary red heads, Peter gulped before he dared ask the question. "And would this red head happen to be able to take down a small fleet all by herself?"

Clint simply nodded.

Peter sighed.

Ned gave a small squeal as he brought his hands up to his cheeks in wonder when he realized who they were talking about.

"Well then why isn't  _she_  following me around. Why you?"

"Because she told me, and I quote, 'I am the brains and you should do the physical labor and take a few pounds off,' and do you really think I could ignore her when she's like that?"

With a sigh, Peter folded his arms, "No I guess not. But what's the reason for her being in 'mama bear mode'?"

"She probably just wants to make sure that your classmates are actually teenagers just on a tour and there's no villain or something that is playing the part. Just wants to make sure that you're protected while you're at home, ya know?"

Internally, there were butterflies in his stomach and a fast heart gave away how happy those words made him, but outside, Peter tried to keep a straight face as he tried to show how calm he was with the situation. It was nice to hear how concerned Natasha was with his well being and how much Clint agreed with her seeing as he was currently standing right in front of Peter. The feelings felt even better after hearing the older hero call this place home, implying that it was such for the both of them and everyone else.

"Yeah, I guess," Peter finally said as he gave a small smile.

"So, what, you've been tailing Peter ever since we got here and you're going to keep doing it that for the whole trip?" Ned asked once there was a break of silence between the two.

Clint looked over to Ned and gave a smile another simple shrug of his shoulders, "Well, I only just caught up to you guys when you got here at the museum. I've had a busy day let me tell you. But yeah, I guess I'll be here for the whole thing. I mean, Nat's the one that's good at all the tailing stuff. I'm better in the air but I guess I can make do."

"Yeah, we know," Peter muttered.

"But why did you have to be so creepy about it," Ned as he talked over Peter's quiet mumblings. "I mean, we clearly caught you looking at us a few times and with those clothes, you should be thankful that Peter's an idiot and didn't think to call security or the cops."

"Eheh," Clint rubbed the back of his head and gave a feeble smile, "yeah about that – it was just easier on me that way. I didn't care if you knew I was watching you guys. Nat's the one that wanted it to be a discreet thing, but I had to be close enough to you in case something did happen and I could act on it. Also, it's just easier on the eyes if I am closer so I don't have to try real hard to read everyone's lips."

The two friends traded a look as though not completely believing Clint's story. Or at least knowing that he was intentionally leaving something out of his tale.

"Well, since I now know you're here, can you cool it with the stalker-like moves?"

"I guess? Sorry little dude, I can try something else, but I won't always be near you then. That okay?"

"Hey, I'm not the paranoid one here. Go ask your partner in crime for that answer. And besides, I know these guys. Some are a real piece of work, but their harmless, regular high schoolers. And even though I am just regular old Peter Parker right now, I can still take care of myself. I've got a Red badge apparently."

"I suppose," Clint said as he looked Peter and Ned up and down in thought before he gave a wolfish smile, "but I bet you don't even know what that means, huh my little intern?"

Peter glared back at the grin. "And I'm betting that you won't tell me?"

"Nope," Clint said with a pop at the end of the word.

"And why not?"

"Because I want to watch you suffer in curiosity!" The deaf hero said in an exaggerated manor as he raised his hands up to squish Peter's cheeks.

He tried to move away from the action, it reminded him too much of Aunt May when he had been younger and she would always pinch and squish his face. But Peter could not help the small burst of laughter that escaped at the situation he was in.

Who in their right mind would ever think that one day, boring Peter Parker would become friends with a hero like Hawkeye and that such a hero would want to do something as silly and casual as pushing Peter's cheeks inward while they stood in the middle of a museum in the old Avengers tower.

Peter finally batted away the hands from his face. "Fine I'll suffer but so will you! Now that I know you're stuck on babysitting duty, I can say or do things that you won't be able to avoid since you have to follow us around."

"Great. Thanks for that Pete. You really are a mini Stark, ya know."

"Peter, you better take that as a compliment," Ned warned his best friend with an eager tone.

"Yeah I agree with Ned. I'll take that as a compliment."

"Aw, my mini Stark!" Clint said as he raised a pinkie to the corner of his mouth and raised an eyebrow. Peter and Ned gave him a weird look and Clint pouted as he brought his hand down, "What? You too young to get that reference?"

They nodded their heads.

The archer hero slumped his head down as he muttered to himself, "Man, I'm old."

"So what are you going to do now that you're not allowed to follow me around like a creepy shadow?"

"Don't worry Peter, I'll still keep an eye on ya even you can't keep an eye on me."

"Oh no. What do you mean by that?"

Clint leaned in as he cupped his hands around his mouth as though telling a great big secret. Too curious to pass up whatever he was going to say, Peter leaned in as he moved his head to the side, letting Clint cup around his ear and he whispered, "The vents are always your friends."

The younger male leaned back at that and rolled his eyes dramatically when he knew Clint was looking at him. "They may be your friends, but not mine. Seriously, how do you even fit?"

"Tony is very understanding, my little spider. And they are your friends too! You do know what air conditioning vents are actually used for right?"

"Of course I do. Do you?"

"Yup. But that doesn't mean I can't have my fun crawling all around in them. It's comfy. I really need to get you to try it come of these days."

"Pass."

"Oh, come on! Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please"

"No thank you."

"What if I call you 'my little dude'?"

"You already do call me that and I am used to it."

"What about 'princess.?"

"Uh, what?"

"It's not working? I thought that maybe you would be too embarrassed to be called that and you would want to do whatever to get me to stop calling you that."

"Oh. Well it didn't work."

"Then I'll just have to drag you into the vents one of these days when you are none the wiser."

"You mean like dragging him into the vents like in some scary movie?" Ned asked with a worried look to his face. Peter spared him a sympathetic look. Ned hated anything involving scary movies or television shows.

"Yes!" Clint said as he rubbed his hands together as he got lost in his thoughts.

Ned and Peter looked at one another with a shared expression of uneasiness. They turned around then at the sound of Erin's voice drifting back towards the corner the three of them were in.

It seemed as though their time was up for looking around the floor. Ned slumped his shoulders, upset that he missed his chance to look at everything and take some pictures. Peter felt sorry for his best friend while he also felt a bit bummed out to have spent the whole time talking instead of looking around.

Clint finally calmed down when he saw the way the two teens had turned around at whatever they had heard. He followed their line of sight to see Erin standing near the glass railing and calling back her group.

"Looks like that's my que to leave then," he said, causing the friends to turn back to him.

"Yeah I guess so," Peter replied.

"Aw, do you miss me already, my cute little munchkin?"

"Yuck. Please don't ever call me that again."

"Sure. Just know that while I spend my time today following you guys around in the vents, I will be making a list of new nicknames for you."

"Goodbye, Clint," Peter said as he tried to ignore his last words and instead grabbed Ned's shoulder to steer him back to their tour.

Ned chanced a peek back to the older avenger and was surprised to see that he was already gone and most likely headed for the nearest vent opening. He told as much to Peter who turned back as well and then shook his head in exasperation.

When they finally walked back to Erin, they realized that they were the last to arrive. When their guide spotted them, she spared a questioning look with a lifted eyebrow but seemed to let it go as she did another head count.

Happy with her answer, she then said, "Well, let's go to one more thing and then we can take a lunch break. That sound good?"

The replies were a range of eager agreement seeing as these were teenagers who she was showing around and it was a known fact that teenagers have bottomless pits for stomachs. They were all corralled back into an elevator and after hearing that Erin was taking them to floor fifty-five, Peter's interest skyrocketed as he remembered Erin saying that this floor was the one she worked on. They were headed for Erin's personal lab.

**End Chapter Five**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here it is! I hope that it was fun to read and that everyone’s dying curiosity about the stalker was sated! Hope I made Clint fun for you guys. I love him so much and if I am being honest, I have a crush on him. Comic book Clint as well as Jeremy Renner. Sigh!


	6. Helping Hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright peeps, I am aware that all of you are anxiously waiting for Tony Stark appear. I can understand that seeing as he is practically like a father to Peter. He is an overprotective goofball that we all love. Well, I can now say that he is planned to show up soon, so you don’t have to wonder for too much longer.
> 
> I am by no means trying to make this seem like some kind of build up to him because I do not want that expectation on my shoulders. But, his appearance is right around the corner and with that, so is this story. That’s right, this story is most likely ending soon. There is most likely going to be 10 chapters in total and then it shall be done!
> 
> As I get closer to the end, I will update you guys but until then, enjoy this chapter! It’s a two for one deal when it comes to guest appearances and the longest chapter yet! Think of it as a little apology for taking so long to get this out to you loves! :P
> 
> Thanks Artemisz for your art!

Floor fifty-five was completely different than any other floor that the group had been to so far.

It was not a typical open plan floor and it certainly did not have a half wall dividing it from a floor above or below. This place was instead what a typical science lab looked like with secure doors and large window that let observers see what was going on from a safe distance.

Erin seemed to look both eager and annoyed to be there. Peter assumed it was because it was still where she typically worked and sometimes people just have those days where they do not want to go into work.

She seemed to take in a breath of air however as the group she was leading finally got off the elevator and made their first few steps into the main room.

It looked to be a bit like a reception area with a fairly decent sized room and a small counter with a single woman sitting behind it.

Behind the counter there were three hallways that forked into differing directions. Peter was eager to see what sort of things were being worked on down each way. Though the sneak peak he got from a window covered wall showed a few people in similar lab coats to Erin who seemed to be working on something.

Erin asked Mr. Johnson to do a quick headcount to make sure everyone was still accounted for as she walked up to the seated woman at the counter. Erin leaned forward, resting her folded arms across the top of the surface as she leaned forward and began whispering to woman.

Knowing that he was supposed to not be able to hear what was being said but not being able to help himself, Peter let himself listen in.

"Hey Erin, doing another tour then?"

"You know it, Rita. I was just wondering what I've missed since this morning. I haven't had the time to check in since I've had to keep an eye out on this rowdy group."

Rita gave a small giggle as she hid her smile behind a hand before she turned to her computer. There were only a few taps of the keyboard before Rita turned back to Erin. "Looks like you haven't missed much. Just some of the usual. The Gold's did finally give us our prototype for that battery of yours that you've been asking about for a while."

"Oh really?" Erin asked in an excited tone. "Finally. I've been looking forward to that for about a week now. I heard that they are a little behind upstairs, so I was thinking that it might be another few days. Now I'm exited to go play with it!"

"Uh," Rita leaned to her side to peek over at Peter and his group, "don't forget that you got some kids with you, Erin."

"Oh, right." Erin turned around to follow Rita's eyes as well and spotted Peter looking at them. She gave a small smile and nod. Feeling a bit guilty at being caught even though he knew that Erin had no idea he was been listening in, he turned to Ned to avoid her stare.

"Oh! One more thing," Rita said as she leaned forward to Erin as well, closing the gap between them even more as she tried to keep what she said away from the teenagers in the room. "Banner is in the back working on something for Stark. I wasn't told what, but I thought you might want to know that he's here. I don't know if you wanted to have them get to see one of the avengers in person seeing as they might never get that chance again."

Erin gave a laugh then and when Rita gave a lifted eyebrow in question, Erin said, "Oh, believe me, they've already had the treat of a lifetime. But you're right. Maybe we'll go look at some other things and along the way I'll ask Banner if it would be alright for me to swing the group by for a quick hello. They might get to see him work on something cool. Who knows," she ended with a shrug and a smile.

"Great!" Rita said with a smile as she turned back to her computer.

With their small chat over, Erin turned back to the group and noticed how everyone seemed to almost be vibrating with excitement.

Peter was included in that but who could blame him – they were in the Stark Tower building and even then, the small group was getting the privilege to be in one of the best labs in the entire place.

"Okay you guys, why you step over here with me and we can get going on some of the more fun things to see around here." Erin gave a wave of her hand as she began walking and gestured towards the hallway that led to the right.

With the floors being a type of linoleum material, since they were in a lab setting, the surface did not help in keeping their steps quiet. There was no talking, but the air was still filled with the sound of sixteen pairs of shoes and one pair of high heels that clicked regularly against the floor.

Throughout it all, there was a slight undertone to the constant noise that was bugging Peter a bit.

At first, he could not quite place it, but soon enough, Peter realized that what he was hearing was the sound of warping metal. Slightly thin metal at that and once he connected those dots, Peter's eyes automatically moved up towards the ceiling on their own.

He could not spot any physical change to the clearly visible vents but once the group passed underneath a grate, he easily spotted a familiar figure scurry by with his enhanced sight.

Right then, Peter wanted to both groan at the absurdity of what he just witnessed as well as laugh outright. Once he realized just what was going on, Peter truly wanted to do nothing more than just bend over in laughter.

Clint had indeed said that he would be following Peter through the vents but hearing and seeing were such two differing things.

It was amazing and ridiculous, and Peter could easily admit in the comfort of his own mind, that he loved Clint even more for this.

.

* * *

.

As the group finally made it through the long hall that divided the main reception room to the rest of the floor, the small tour group was greeted to another hallway. Only this one was lined with windows that peaked into the various lab rooms that filled the space. A few were empty and though the others seemed to quickly glaze over them, seemingly bored with not seeing any action, Peter was very much invested.

It gave then the chance to see what it would look like if they were to work there one day. How it was organized would tell a lot about the personality and feelings that the people here regarded their work space and their level of professionalism.

From what Peter could see, it was indeed orderly and sanitary. Nothing seemed out of place and even more, he could spot a few tools that were organized in a familiar pattern.

It seemed as though the employees here took a page out of Tony's instructions and laid out certain tools and equipment to his habits and standards.

Finally, Erin stopped in front of one of the windows. This one was occupied with three people all in similar lab coats to the red head.

"Here," she began after she knocked on the glass and waved once they saw they had an audience, "we have three very knowledgeable people who are testing. What you may ask, I actually don't know yet. This seemed to look a knew one that even I have not gotten my hands on yet. But I can take a guess. Can any of you?"

Trent spoke up after raising their hand. "I would guess that they are working on some type of droid battery."

"And can you explain why you think that?"

"Yes," Trent replied as he pointed at the glass wall in the direction behind the person that was the farthest left in the room. "There are a few blueprints on that board over there that have flight schematics and equations. There are also a lot of discarded propellers that are in a few bins here and there."

"Why do you think it is a battery then? Why don't you think that they are working on the actual droid?"

"Because I would recognize that type of battery anywhere. I use them a bit myself since I like to make small planes and droid-like things once in a while."

Erin gave a large grin as she nodded her head, "Well, you're correct. They are indeed working on a droid battery. Here in this lab, we test out our flight prototypes. Actually, almost this entire floor is dedicated to testing out prototypes. That is what I specialize here at Stark Industries."

"So, all prototypes? Or something specific?" Peter asked.

Ned nodded his head in agreement as he said, "Yeah. That seems like a pretty broad thing to work on. You mean that you test out any kind of thing that is a prototype for the company?"

"Yes, Ned, exactly that."

There were a few students whose eyes grew large at that bit of information.

Casey even muttered a low, "Wow" that those around her heard and nodded in agreement.

Erin tapped the glass then as she spoke next. "I know that it seems like a lot to handle," she paused as she gestured to the side of one of the workers, "but we're a pretty large team so we can get stuff done in a fairly decent time frame," the worker seemed to realize what she was trying to say and picked up a different tool before they went back to work.

"Another fun bit of information for you guys is that this is my specialty – I work with batteries and general power sources. So that battery that you are oh so familiar with," she said as she pointed to Trent, "is something that I actually invented for this kind of specific droid type."

It seemed that Clint found the perfect time to whisper, "Badass." Peter was thankful that it was at a level where only he could hear. Internally he rolled his eyes at the remark, but the teen found himself agreeing with the hidden hero.

"The process we go through to work on prototypes is a bit long and complicated so why don't I just give you the quick notes, huh? Basically, if we want to create something for the company, we can write out everything we want and need. We don't make the first thing though, that honor goes to the Gold's upstairs. Though there are a few times where they might get swamped in work and so some of us Green's get to work on them.

"Either way, the Gold's usually make the first prototype and then it gets handed down to us where we get to tinker around with Mark I and give more notes to give to the Gold's. If it gets passed, then they send the notes and Mark I back to us and from then on, we get to work on however many Marks we want of that thing. When we're done or think we can go as few as we can, we give it back to them. They either polish things up or just hand it right away to Mr. Stark. He oversees everything that comes out of the company still even though Mrs. Potts is C.E.O."

When Erin was done speaking, she turned back to watch her fellow peers work behind the glass with her group. They spent a few more minutes simply watching them work in silence before Erin soon dragged them off down the hall.

They passed a few more large windows in the same hall which held even more smaller labs.

Peter began to notice that the further they walked down the hall, the more people were in the various labs on either side of them.

He remembered that Erin said that there are a few hundred people with the Green badge, but he also thought that there were quite a few floors that they could be spread out on. The amount that he was noticing was nowhere even close to fifty people yet, so Peter supposed that there were still a lot of people that he had not seen yet that were on the other available floors.

A whole bunch of questions kept springing forth in his mind but as much as Peter would have loved to voice them, he was still wary of Flash and what else he might say in regards to Peter not knowing much about where he worked.

Peter snuck a glance at the other teenager and saw him fooling around a bit with Sean and his two other goons, Damion Johnson and Christopher Price. It was a bit subtle and Peter was sure that Mr. Johnson had not even noticed that the four of them were even acting out.

It was not too bad, even Peter could admit, but seeing them like that made him a bit worried seeing as they were on a floor that was a bit more of a safety hazard then where they had been beforehand.

Almost as though feeling eyes on him, Flash turned just enough to catch Peter's eye.

He tried to refrain from doing a classic gulp at Flash's look, but the thin teen could not help himself and did it anyways. Again, Flash noticed, and a grin formed across his face as he slipped passed their teacher to reach Peter and Ned.

"What's with that look, Penis?" he asked. It seemed that he did not care if anyone heard him say that to a fellow classmate. Well, it was that or he was too stupid to realize that Erin or Mr. Johnson could have easily heard him say such a thing.

Neither adult saw however, and so Peter and Ned were left to simply glare at Flash as he tried to look intimidating by swinging an arm around Peter's shoulders.

Remembering what Pepper had said before about how he needed to stand up for himself even if just a bit, he quickly twisted his shoulder away. Flash had put a bit of his weight upon Peter with the gesture and so when Peter moved back like he did, Flash stumbled a bit as he tried to rebalance himself.

The commotion from his small shout and the squeak of his shoes on the floor had Erin and Mr. Johnson turning to see what happened. Their reactions soon had everyone else turning to see what caught the adult's attention.

Ned had accidentally let a small laugh escape at Flash's action, Peter had stood there not knowing what to do with himself, and Flash had a flush to his face at having so many eyes on him that were a mixed bag of emotions.

Their teacher finally took in the scene and turned to walk up to them. He grabbed Flash and Ned by their shoulders while he sent a stern look to Peter as he tilted his head, telling the teen to follow him as he walked back the way they came. It was only a few steps, but it put a bit of distance between them and the rest of the class. Erin also made sure to direct the rest of the group to the next window in hopes of continuing the tour.

"Why is it whenever I am forced to see something going on, it always involves you three?" Mr. Johnson demanded after he released Ned and Flash.

The three young men had no response to give that would make the situation any better.

When it looked like he would wait until one of them spoke up, Mr. Johnson gave a deep sigh as he rubbed his forehead. "Look, I said on the bus ride here that I would not be having any funny business on this trip and I meant it. But you three are very lucky because I am the only chaperone here right now. I can't force the three of you to leave this trip due to the lack of supervision to ensure that you would make it back safe, but that doesn't have to stop me from keeping track of this type of stuff.

"When we get back to school, you can bet that there will be consequences. As of now, it may only be a phone call to each of your guardians, but if this keeps up and you do something that cannot be taken back, you can bet that I will get the principal involved. Look, I understand that not everyone gets along but you are currently in a very important place so you three better shape up right this moment. Am I clear?"

"Yes Mr. Johnson." The three mumbled, thoroughly ashamed to be scolded like they were eight instead of eighteen.

The older man gave a hesitant nod at their words before he beckoned them to head over to the rest of the class while he made sure to walk behind the three to make sure there were no actions done behind his back as they regrouped.

A grumble accompanied a brief moment of shifting metal from above and Peter could easily imagine Clint frowning at his science teacher's head.

Peter secretly agreed but he knew that his teacher was just trying to be fair. And the young hero could not blame him too much. He was typically a fair teacher indeed. He would probably hound Flash more if he knew just how much of a problem Flash was to people like Peter and Ned, but the bully was also a bit clever.

It was never in the sense of he knew when to keep his mouth and thoughts to himself, but Peter had to reluctantly see that Flash was smart when it came to him picking on others. He always made sure that there were no good camera angles in the school hallways and no teacher was looking their way in the classrooms. He may have been cleaver in that sense, but he was still as dumb as a bag of rocks when it came to him being able to control that mouth of his.

That was a pleasant thought to Peter since it meant those were the times when Flash was outed by himself for being his use of language or just being rude to peers and teachers alike.

His inner thoughts were interrupted then when Erin ushered them to the end of the hall and turned to head down another.

It was a bit more of the same things they had already witnessed with various people in lab coats walking around behind glass looking all smart and important. It was fun to watch them and the more that Peter gazed upon everything, the more excited he felt since this could be him one day.

Sure, he already technically worked here but it was not like he was being paid.

A lot of what he did was very beneficial for experience and being able to be in the presence of Tony Stark himself as well as all the heroes that he had admired all his life. Such things however, did not help him and Aunt May pay for food and rent. So, the sooner that he was able to graduate from high school, the sooner he would be able to apply to work at Stark Industries.

A ping rang out in the hall then and Peter looked to see that Erin had taken out her phone and read something quickly before she pocketed it once more and left a relieved smile light her face.

"Well," Erin said to interrupt Peter's thoughts once again, "that looks like that takes care of these halls. Why don't we head over to my own lab? It's not really my personal lab since everyone with a Green or above may enter, but I am known to spend most of my time in there."

A few excited words of agreement answered her.

She looked down at her phone when there was a second ping then said, "Okay well then let's go! You'll be happy to know that you're getting another treat on this tour. I have to remind you to be very nice and on your best behavior. I don't want you embarrassing me in front of who we are about to meet, alright?"

The energy of the group seemed even more eager if that was possible. The best friends traded a happy look too, curious about who might be there.

Peter never once considered that it might be someone he already knew.

.

* * *

.

"No way," Shanni whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.

Everyone seemed to simultaneously nod their head at her words, agreeing with her.

Peter was included in that action even though the person behind the glass was very familiar to him. Almost too familiar that he wanted to turn tail and bail out of there before he could be seen.

The man currently sitting in Erin's lab was by no means the eager or energetic hero in attitude, but that did not mean that he would not try to whoop some bully butt if he caught Flash doing something. He was clever and quiet and knew what signs to look for and even though Peter would love it if they did something about that topic. It did not stop Peter from wanting to leave while he could so that he would not have to look at him if he gave a painful, effective, and disappointed kind of fatherly expression should he catch even the smallest detail.

"Cool, right?" Erin asked with a grin. "C'mon you guys, lets get a closer look at the space and what he's up to in there."

Peter took a breath and let out a deep sigh as Erin swiped her badge across the scanner to open the door.

The protective glass doors opened to a small quarantine space with all a few hazmat suits, gas masks, and medical masks hanging on one side of the space.

Erin gestured to the items and said that that they were only there as a precaution but she had never had to wear any of it herself. She ushered everyone in at once, explaining that the second set of doors would only open into the lab when the first set were closed tight.

With a sort of whistle sound, the front set of doors finally sealed closed and right away the second set opened, letting everyone spill out into the lab. Peter made sure to stay near the back so that he would not be noticed easily. Ned gave a confused look to him, but eventually made his way to stand by his side.

Chocolate brown eyes, hidden behind a pair of thin glasses, looked up from their work and spotted the group of teenagers. He gave off a nervous air, but the smile was genuine as he set down tools and stood from his stool to walk up and greet the group as a whole.

"Well hello there," Bruce Banner said as he stuffed his nervous hands in his lab coat pockets, "you guys are Erin's tour group, right?"

Only a few were able to verbally say anything to the genius, but most of the group in front of Peter at least nodded to let the scientist know that they had heard him.

Erin stepped forward with her own smile, "That's right Dr. Banner. These little rascals are from Midtown High and are even part of the engineering program there, so we might be seeing some familiar faces back here in a few more years." She turned to face the group and gave a wink.

"Midtown?" Bruce asked with a raised eyebrow.

Peter gave in internal gulp when he saw those cogs turning in the man's head as he began scanning the group of teenagers in front of him.

Try as he might, Peter was not as hidden as he hoped to be when Bruce's striking eyes caught his own from where he stood just behind Ned's shoulder. The flash of surprise that passed through Bruce's face told Peter right away that the older hero had no previous knowledge that Peter would be taking a field trip of the S.I. tower.

Peter gave a guilty look when they locked eyes and hoped that he was pulling off a face that said he did not want to be outed.

It seemed that Bruce understood the message for as soon as he recovered from seeing Peter, he simply gave a nod to him in greeting before he turned away to head back to his work station. "Well don't be shy," he called over his shoulder, "why don't you guys come over here and see what I've been up to. This is something that I'm sure you engineer students will enjoy."

Everyone almost ran over each other in their hurry to follow the famous man and if it was anyone else they were trailing after, Peter might have laughed at them.

But this was Bruce freaking Banner and even though Peter knew a bit more about the man the average person, he could admit that he would give up an arm and a leg just to see the man in action.

Speaking of an arm and a leg, it appeared that Bruce was working on some type of prosthetic since there was a weird looking arm that appeared to almost be a mix between hard plastic and some type of metal.

It looked vaguely familiar though Peter knew that he had never seen this kind of style for any prosthetic before.

But he could easily guess who it was for seeing as the thing had a left hand at the end of the appendage.

As if waiting for that thought to pass through Peter's mind, a second person in the room shifted just slightly then. Peter easily caught the motion from his peripheral and had he been alone without so many eyes one him, he might had overreacted and jumped onto the ceiling.

Instead however, all Peter could do was tense up in surprise while a few of the classmates around him either jumped or shrieked in surprise.

The teenage hero swung his eyes around to get a good look at the person who had startled them all and was met with the vary familiar and brooding face of one James "Bucky" Barnes. He was seated at a small table in the corner of the lab, that did not have as much light as the rest of the place for some reason, and the motion that he had made that alerted everyone of his presence was him setting down a reading tablet that he had been holding with one hand.

His other hand was missing. In fact, his whole usual metal arm was gone and instead a black piece of cloth was wrapped around his shoulder to hide away what his skin looked like underneath.

Peter had never spotted what his injury looked like before and seeing him almost vulnerable in that situation made Peter both curious and protective.

Suddenly, Peter wanted to push everyone else out of the room so that only the two of them and Bruce were left. He did not want so many curious peers hounding Bucky and making him even more anxious than he already usually was.

He, of course, did not react on his thought but all the same, he kept shooting a concerned look to the long haired brunet as he tried to focus back on Bruce.

"Sorry about that guys, I probably should have told you that he was over there." Bruce looked over to Bucky as well and gave a smile and nod before he turned back to the arm he had been working on. "Anyways, as you can obviously tell now, this here is a new arm that I am working on for Mr. Quiet over there."

"So cool," Kevin said as he leaned forward farther than everyone else. He did not try touch anything, but he looked the most eager out of everyone there to see all the parts up close.

Bruce laughed at those words. "Yes, I like to think it's pretty cool as well. I've been tinkering with this idea for a while now and thought that it was about time that I start actually building a prototype for Bucky to try out." The more he spoke about it, the more eager Bruce seemed as well, and he joined Kevin in leaning over the arm. "See this here?" Bruce said as he tapped the fake bicep, "I'm planning to make it more durable while also being flexible like an actual muscle. This one is not really going to be going out on missions and fights, but more like a real arm for everyday use."

He opened his mouth after taking a breath after saying everything in one breath, but Erin gave a soft cough to grab his attention.

He stuttered a bit as he tried to stop talking all at once and his words jumbled together.

Samantha and Casey giggled a bit when a small blush bloomed across the older mans face, but even the more level headed girls like Shanni and Catalina Vega joined in after making weird goo-goo eyes at the scientist.

They seemed to take a moment to catch their breath form they're not-so-well-hidden-laughs but when they did, Erin spoke up again. "I'm sorry Dr. Banner, I didn't mean to make you stop talking, but I just wanted to say that I have been trying to have them do a bit of guess work on their own and think about what things around here might be used for or what they are made of. Would it be possible to do that sort of thing with this arm, or is it a bit more confidential?"

"Oh, don't worry about that Dr. White," Bruce said as he leaned down again to pat the fake arm almost affectionately, "if this was something top secret, I would have made sure to lock it up before you and your group arrived. I was already working on this here before I learned about you guys coming, so it's alright with me."

"Oh my goodness! I am so sorry Dr. Banner, I had no idea that you had booked some time in here. If I had, I swear that I would not have brought along a crowd here."

"Hey, it's alright. I don't mind and I'm sure Bucky doesn't either. Uh," he turned around to find Bucky where he had been before, "well as much as he can not mind." Bruce gave a breathy laugh as he rubbed at the back of his head as he turned back to Erin.

Peter looked behind Bruce when he had turned and saw that Bucky had indeed stayed where he had been when the tour group arrived.

He was no longer tying to read whatever was on his tablet and was instead eyeing the group of teenagers with an expression that Peter could not quite figure out.

What Peter could easily tell however, was the look that those piercing blue eyes were giving him. Apparently, he had easily located Peter within the group and he was now looking at nothing but Peter's face. It was a bit uncomfortable to be stared at with such a strong presence, but at the same time, Peter was familiar with Bucky and he knew that the soldier was not trying to be rude or intimidating in his stare.

Bucky was most likely simply trying to find familiarity in the room since he was now technically outnumbered.

They both knew that there were plenty of reasons why he did not have to worry about such thing like being attacked right now by the people who were occupying the same space as him, but Peter still understood regardless.

The soldier turned hero was simply used to certain things still even after a few years of being completely free. Things like being aware of his surroundings and all possible exit strategies, best ways to attack, or even knowing who to go for first, were instincts within Bucky that had not gone away yet.

Peter understood that Bucky was trying his best to keep cool and so he was staring at one of the two people in the room that he was familiar and comfortable with.

A ghost of a smile grew on Peter's lips at the thought.

He very much enjoyed Bucky's company. He was a sturdy man in both company and physicality so if Peter ever just needed a presence to keep in company or to feel safe, he could always count on the quiet man to be there.

It was mostly due to him that Peter and Steve even became as close as they were. Peter was reluctant to admit it after two years having come and gone, but there had definitely been a time where his fondness for Captain America was lacking thanks to Iron Man's recruitment of him back when they all battled each other outside of an airport.

After that had all been said and done along with the terrifying battle against Thanos, the unlikely friendship between Winter Soldier and Spider-man was formed.

Peter was almost as close Bucky as he was with Tony.

Bruce spoke up then, making Peter turn his eyes away from the man in the corner to focus back on the one speaking.

"Well, since I've told you guys how I want this one to be used, do any of you have any ideas about what materials I used?"

There were a few seconds of silence as Peter and his classmates leaned closer to the arm to get a good look at what it was, poking and prodding it a bit after Bruce gave the go ahead.

"Well if you were working on the bicep before we arrived, then I can only assume that it will at least be a type of bendable material," Samantha said.

"Like a rubber band," Jason added.

Bruce gave a smile with a nod for them to continue.

"Then it has to be a type of silicone," Peter said after moved around the work station, closer to Bruce, and touched the arm. "A really strong one that won't disintegrate or be too difficult to mold or shift around. If it's going to be used like a muscle, then that makes the most sense. At least to me."

Bruce gave a grin at those words, letting his eyes light up behind his glasses as he looked to Peter. "All three of you are correct. It is in fact a silicone based material so that the entire thing will not become weak easily while also being able to maintain a bit of flexibility for the wearer to move however they want. It is for everyday use like I said earlier. So too much over work and it might break down."

"What about the rest of the arm? What's that made of," Sean asked as he knocked a knuckle against the white, hard surface of the forearm.

"Well why don't you take a guess?" Bruce said with a smile and look to Erin.

It seemed that Bruce was also finding it to be fun to see what the students on the tour could answer themselves.

"Uh," Sean hesitated before saying, "well it has to be some type of polyester at least."

"You half way there. Anyone else want to take crack at it?"

"May I lift it to test its weight?" Shanni asked as she stepped forward to the edge of the table.

When Bruce gave the go ahead, she lifted the arm with both hands and made a few up and down motions as she got used to the mass. She tilted it around a few ways and even looked closer at the wrist and fingers as she delicately moved them around by their awkward joints.

"Please be careful with those. This is a fist prototype after all and some of the fingers might not be on as strong as they should."

Shanni gave an understanding nod of her head as she went back to fiddling with the prosthetic. "It's lightweight like something like this should be. But it also had a bit more weight to it. My best bet is that this is made from two materials that are common in this kind of creation. Perhaps epoxy is also being used to make the arm a bit heavier."

"You both are correct! This is being made out of two common plastic polymers, polyester and epoxy. That is making it a few more milligrams heavier. But there is also a bit of metal in the joints. It's to both to help keep the joints locked when the wearer wants them to be, like holding a cup, and to make sure that the different types of joints are stable."

"But wont a metal corrode or become rusted? Why even risk that?"

"The corrosion is something that can't be avoided, I'm afraid, but the metal being used is aluminum. So there is no risk of rust. And if you guys will remember, I said that this is for everyday use. Yes, that may mean that it will be worn a lot and that corrosion might happen sooner rather than later, but I am also hoping that when this will be in use, it will be indoors and for the more relaxing part of the days. There is no working out while wearing this and there is no way that I will let this be worn for missions."

Here, Bruce turned slightly to give a playful glare over Peter's head at the other older man in the room. A flash of surprise washed over his face before it went back to his usually brainy self when in the presence of one of his projects.

Peter noticed the brief look and being curious, he turned around, expecting to see Bucky still brooding in his corner, but was instead surprise to see that he was now standing almost directly behind Peter.

He clamed down just a quickly as Bruce, knowing that there was no reason to be worried or tense. His spider sense had not even gone off either. And why should it have, Bucky was not any kind of threat at all.

He still had a blank face as he looked down at Peter however. His mouth was a thin, straight line, but at least his eyes were alive and swimming with mirth at the honor of startling Peter.

Bucky then looked away from the teen hero to instead address Bruce.

Peter turned around then, happy to feel the comforting presence of Bucky at his back to see the rest of his class looking surprised. He lifted an eyebrow in confusion, and Jason answered. "Dude, he was just sitting there like a second ago. I was facing him and then after just a blink, he was right there behind you!"

"Oh. Well he is an Avenger. It makes sense for him to be fast, right?"

"I guess so."

Bucky spoke up then, silencing Peter before he could anything else. "Well if your done talking, how about we test this thing out already."

"Right now? Are you sure?"

It was obvious Bruce was asking for Bucky's sake to make sure he was alright with setting up a new arm with so many people in the room. Bucky gave a short nod of his head and he walked over to another table that had been set up.

He made sure to turn his body so that his right side was facing the small crowd and begun unstrapping the cloth covering his left shoulder.

"Well, it looks like you guys will get to see how well this first prototype will go. Who knows, maybe you guys can help me figure out what things can be improved, scrapped, or added." Bruce picked up the prosthetic and followed after Bucky.

A few curious students tried to trail along as well, but Erin and Mr. Johnson were there to stop them with a hand to their shoulders. They were sensitive enough to understand that Bucky had silently asked for some personal space.

**End Chapter Six**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would you look at that! I didn't try to cram their whole presence to just one chapter! You'll get to see more of my cute, smart, quiet heroes next chapter too!
> 
> Also, please have mercy. There was some science mumbo jumbo at the end there and I have no way of knowing if anything I said is accurate. I just pulled stuff from the glorious internet and made a few things up for fun.


	7. Red Rage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh! Are you ready? I don't know if you're ready! Tony's still not here yet, but oh boy there sure is some stuff in this one! It has it all – plot, drama, suspense, fluff! The whole shabang!
> 
> Also, sorry this one came out so late, it took a while to think about and to actually put into words.
> 
> Thanks Artemisz for your art!

Surprisingly, it did not take too long for Bruce to help Bucky into the arm. Peter obviously could not see what was going on, but he could at least guess that either the arm was designed to easily connect to the various functions of the body like the nervous system, or that Bucky was already wearing something attached to his shoulder that allowed the new arm to slip on sort of like a pocket or sleeve.

Once it seemed to fit and Bucky rotated his arm a few times to get a feel, they both turned back around to the group and headed over to them.

"Well, what do you think, Bucky? Anything weird, uncomfortable?"

The other man finally spoke then after swinging his arm around a few more times. "It feels fine."

Peter spotted Bruce lift his eyes to the ceiling as he took in a small sigh.

"I need more than 'fine' to go off here. What about the weight. Too much or too little?"

"It's lighter than I'm used to but I kind of like that. Since it's not for fighting, I don't care how heavy it is."

 _Well, at least he was talking a little more now,_  Peter thought to himself. But he could understand why he was being a bit hesitant to talk so much. Bucky was still not completely comfortable with so many curious teenagers watching him test out an arm.

But he must have been at least somewhat alright with it seeing as he was still here.

Peter remembered then that when his group had arrived, Bruce said that he knew that they had been on their way there. He would have obviously told Bucky that much at least and let the man decide if he wanted to stay there or leave.

If he was there of his own free will, then Peter had no room to complain and could only hope that nothing would happen that would make Bucky regret staying there.

"Why don't we head over to the other side of the room then," Bruce said to Bucky before he turned to address the group, "I set up a few tasks that I want to see the arm do. Now we get to finally see the thing in action and what it will and won't be able to handle."

Bucky gave Bruce a mild frown that had no real heat behind it.

Bruce let out a laugh once he spotted the look, "You know that I'm talking about what the material of the arm and if it can handle everything. I know  _you_ can handle things but were not measuring your real arm's strength, we need to see if this hunk of parts can keep up with you."

Some laughs and smiles met those words and Bucky finally let a smile of his own come forth though it left as quickly as it came.

That action made Peter want to laugh even more, guessing that Bucky was trying to maintain his image as a tough and macho kind of man who did not even know what smiling was.

Bucky headed over first without a single word. A few of Peter's classmates looked like they wanted to follow him with most of them being the girls in the group and all Peter could do was roll his eyes.

Bruce stayed back to gather a few of his tools and supplies that were scattered across the table he had been working at. Erin was all to happy to help him collect a few of the objects and once they were accounted for by the male scientist they too headed over after telling the group of teenagers and one teacher to follow them.

.

* * *

.

As they turned around to see where they were going, Peter finally took in the entire room and was surprised at how large the space was.

From outside of the room, the viewing window only showed so much and had no way of letting a viewer know that the room was 'L' shaped. That was where they were going now and when they turned the corner to go further into the lab, it seemed never ending with the ceiling now taller and holding rows of florescent lights to showoff just how far one could walk into the space.

To the left were a lot of work stations that all had their own wall of tools and cabinets to hold who knew what. A few other people were working around the tables. Most were alone, but some stood up occasionally to talk to their neighbors.

Peter even spotted the familiar face of Kaito, the man that had been in the elevator from before.

He looked up to the commotion of so many feet walking along the linoleum and when he saw Erin and Bruce, he gave a casual nod of his head in greeting before he turned back to his own work.

The far right of the room was where they were obviously going seeing as that was where Bucky was already standing. He was leaning against the table with his arms on either side of him, gripping the edge of the surface as he stared off into space.

"Be careful around here please," Erin said as she turned slightly and peaked over her armful of supplies, "a lot of people work in here and as you can see on the floor, a lot of things require power. Well it's that or some of the cords are for other things that even I don't know. Just watch your step please, I don't know what some of those go to. Honestly though, people around here should know not to leave things like that out where someone can trip." She turned to spare a glare in the general direction of the people working around the lab.

Peter looked down at her words and saw that there were indeed quite a few power cords scattered about. He could follow some of them back to an outlet or to a few of the work stations where they were attached to power tools or even vacuums.

The various cords were not haphazardly splayed out over the ground however. But like Erin had said, it was still something to be careful about as he stepped over the thinner ones with ease.

A few were a bit larger and those were the ones that Peter was keeping on eye on as he continued to cross the lab over to the other side.

Not knowing the inner workings of an idiot's brain, like Flash, Peter would never know  _why_ the other teen did what he did. They were very much in a place that had a higher level of safety and possible safety hazards. The cords may have been only a mild caution at best, but one could never be too careful. What happened then could have turned out a lot worse.

But the bully did it anyways.

Flash had been a few steps in front of Peter and after he crossed a cord himself, he kicked it lightly with the toe of his shoe so that it was a bit farther away from Peter.

This did not work in the young hero's favor for when he had lifted his foot, intending to walk over that specific cord, he instead stepped right onto it. It was thick and when it got caught underneath his own shoe, it threw him off balance and caused him to roll over the cord.

Peter had indeed been surprised by the unforeseen situation but as regular old Peter Parker and not Spider-man, he had to force himself to let the sensation of falling take over and complete the action of looking like the clumsy teen his peers knew him to be.

He fell flat on his face, knowing that was the only thing he could do in that moment.

As soon as his face hit the ground, he heard two distinct sounds that made him cringe for two very different reasons.

The first sound was the painful crack of his nose being slammed into the floor. The rush of pain flooded into every part of his brain and when he lifted his head up a bit after the initial bounce, he also felt the rush of blood seeping down his nose and across his lips to his chin.

The second sound he heard was the distinct noise of breaking wood.

He could easily guess the source of such a sound and when he finally lifted his head enough to see the room, he spotted that Bucky had taken a chunk of the table that he had been leaning against. It was a bit hard to see the entire scene however since his eyes were now a bit blurry with tears.

He then heard Bruce and Erin shout at the same time.

Bruce had exclaimed after the sound of breaking wood that Bucky had to be careful with the new hand. It was a prototype after all and putting that much pressure upon the arm was not in the to do list yet. After scolding the other hero, Bruce had then turned to Peter with a worried look on his face. He took a step in Peter's direction, but the teen's view was suddenly overtaken with red and white.

Erin had rushed over to Peter's side right away and her bright hair and lab coat filled his field of vision as she leaned over him, asking he is was alright. That was when Peter realized that he was still sitting on the floor, cupping his nose with a hand.

Ned was hovering over Erin's shoulder with an equally worried look on his face.

"Peter!" From his peripheral, Peter then spotted the previous chuck of table fall to the ground and a pair of boots practically ran over to his side. He looked up to both the sound of his name and the sight of the footwear to see Bucky racing over as well.

He reached the teens side in record speed and knelt down to be at eye level. He tired to reach out to Peter but held himself back and instead let Erin place her own hand upon the teen's shoulder.

With more than just those two people in his line of sight now, Peter finally took in the sight of his classmates looking at him from differing distances. It seemed that Jason had also moved a bit closer to Peter in concern. Casey hovered near Samantha's side, but her face was covered in worry as well.

Flash had backed away once Erin had moved and he even looked a bit surprised to see Peter's face covered in blood.

Further behind him, there were also a few lab workers who had stood up from their stations, leaning this way and that way, trying to peek over the heads and shoulders of the students who were now beginning to crowd around Peter.

Already a bit lightheaded from the sensation of slamming his face into the ground, the teen could not tell what he was feeling was from that or just general sense of being uncomfortable, but Peter could not stand the look of so many worried and curious eyes starting down at him.

"How's your head," Erin finally asked, bringing Peter's attention back to her.

"It's fine. I hit my nose," he said in a funny voice as he tried to breathe through his mouth.

"Alright. What's your name?"

He gave a sigh as he mumbled his own name for Erin's sake. "Peter. I told you that I didn't hit my head."

"I know but I just wanted to make sure. How's your nose? Still bleeding?"

At those words, Peter remembered that he was protectively cupping his face and keeping it hidden from any eyes. He let the tips of his fingers brush along the bridge as he removed his hand. Almost as the same time, he gave a hiss of pain while Erin and Ned gave their own hiss in sympathy. Bucky narrowed his eyes at the sight and the corner of his mouth lifted a bit to show off a few teeth.

From such reactions, Peter could only guess what his nose looked like.

"Well, at least it looks like the bleeding is already slowing down," Erin said.

Besides the dull pain that had set in, Peter also had the worrying thought that he would heal faster than expected and he did not know what to do or say if someone called it out.

Peter was at least thankful for the fact that people were on his eye level so he would not have to crane his neck to look up while he still sat on the ground. Bruce and Mr. Johnson finally took that time to walk over as well to see what they could do to help.

"Are you alright?"

"What happened?"

Bruce and his teacher asked at the same time.

Peter refused to look at the two them, or anyone else that was in front of him, and mumbled a quiet, "I'm fine. And I don't know. Just tripped I guess."

"Are you sure," Erin asked in an almost aggressive tone as she leaned forward to ask it quickly.

Her eyes shined with knowledge and Peter knew that this could be his chance to finally let it all out. The chance to be truthful and not have to hide what was going on anymore. But he also stared at Erin then and hesitated.

Could he really admit to what happened just like that? Why would he have to say something embarrassing like that in front of his peers. And what about Bruce and Bucky!

Peter let his eyes flicker over to the concerned and aggravated look on Bucky's face then he looked to Bruce's thin mouth and tilted eyebrows that shined in worry.

There was no way that Peter could live it down if he admitted right now that he was being picked on by some regular teenager. He was Spider-man damn it! Those two would probably laugh at him if he said anything.

And what about how Bucky just reacted with the table. He had probably seen the entire thing and was angry that Peter let himself be tripped instead of reacting with the reflexes the both of them knew he had.

"Yeah, I just tripped," Peter finally said as he looked to Erin and then Bucky before he let his eyes scan the other few eyes that had gathered to see how he was doing.

A weight seemed to fill the space around Peter then and he was not completely sure where it came from.

The young hero then turned to the side when he felt his spider sense go off for the first time since they arrived at the tower. Bucky looked intimidating as he actually glared at Peter and though he would never admit it to another soul, the teen truly felt a bit frightened in that moment. He was not sure if he was angry at Peter, but there had to be a reason for the waves coming off the older man as he stood there looking down at Peter.

"You're lying."

His stomach seemed to sink at those words. Peter knew he was lying to everyone, but he had his reasons. Though, he was also a bit pleased to see that Bucky had caught that so easily.

"What? No I'm not."

"Peter, I saw what happened."

"Oh," Peter mumbled as he tested the bridge of his nose again only to wince. "Then why'd you ask in the first place?"

"Because I wanted to see if you would tell the truth on your own."

Well that was a proverbial punch to the gut.

He bit his lip at being caught and looked to Bucky once more before he spotted Erin's face as well. She looked both pleased about something as well as angry as well. It was a bit confusing to see such conflicting emotions displayed on her face like that and Peter had no idea what it meant.

Suddenly, while Peter had been lost in thought, Bucky finally stood to his full height. The movement had been so quick that a few others who had been crowding around backed up in surprise. It was the most emotion any of them had seen from him since they had been here.

"Where is he?" Bucky practically growled as his eyes scanned the faces of the students before he finally stopped.

Peter tried to follow his line of sight and he spotted adults and teens alike doing the same thing.

Bucky finally found his prey and made his way through the small crowd. They split on their own to let him pass and that was when Peter finally remembered how he came to be in this situation.

The super soldier towered over Flash as he kept walking further into the teens personal space before he was almost chest to chest with him. Bucky had his neck craned down so far that his long hair curtained around their faces a bit. It did not block the view too much due to their height difference and the angle at which they stood.

Peter was able to get the perfect side view to witness the verbal beating.

"Why. Did. You. Do. That." Bucky demanded through clenched teeth.

Flash looked utterly petrified to be the focus of such a look from someone like Bucky. Peter felt a bit bad about that since Bucky had been a trained assassin. He knew how to be intimidating, terrifying, the whole nine yards. He was supposed to be able to give that look to the worst of the worst people in the world, not a simple high school bully.

But now, such was the fate of Flash and even though there was that pity and concern that Bucky might go too far, Peter could not help himself with feeling a bit of satisfaction at finally having this justice.

"D-do what?" Flash stuttered.

Peter was honestly surprised that he was able to speak at all.

"You tripped him."

"What? No, I didn't he tripped himself. Parker's always falling down like that." It seemed like Flash had finally found enough courage to speak a full sentence.

"No. You knew where he was. You knew that Peter was behind you and you thought that it would be fun to do something. Something – anything – to make him fall. He was looking out for those cords, like everyone else. But you moved one. Not on accident either. No, you kicked that cord and Peter fell. He just hurt himself and you caused that. He is now bleeding from two places on his nose and you caused that. He is injured, and you caused that. He could now have a broken nose and you caused that. He might have hurt his head and you caused that."

"It, it was just an accident."

"No it was not. I know it and you know it."

This time, Flash had nothing to say. He simply pressed his lips together as he continued to look into Bucky's piercing eyes.

No more words were spoken then and the silence that was left in the room was suffocating. Erin, in all her professional authority, gracefully stood from where she had still been kneeling next to Peter, and slowly made her way over to the two of them.

She tried to place her hand on Bucky's shoulder to gain his attention but jumped back startled as he then turned to her with a frown on his face, looking nothing like the calm and relaxed man he had been before all of this happened.

Bruce swiftly stood up as well and jogged over to jump in between the two.

It seemed that when Bucky realized who he was, his shoulders finally let up slightly and he turned away from the two adults and Flash to return to Peter's side.

Just as the anger bleed away to reveal the kind man that Peter knew Bucky was, the young hero saw both Erin and Bruce finally turn to Flash. He tried to tilt his head to the side to get a peek at them, but he saw Bruce turn to gain Mr. Johnson's attention while Erin cupped Flash's shoulder, leading him back around the corner of the lab, most likely stepping out the lab entirely to have their conversation. Mr. Johnson hurriedly raced after them.

A bit disappointed to not get the chance to see what they would do or what they would say, Peter finally focused back on the present and gave another flinch when he saw Bucky reaching out to touch the bridge of his nose.

"Sorry," the older man muttered as he bent over to help Peter finally stand up on his own feet.

"It's alright. Doesn't hurt as much anymore."

"Yeah, I can take a guess why," Bucky said with knowledge swimming in his serious eyes.

Bruce returned then and when he got close enough, he asked how Peter was as well. Ned finally bounced forward and practically shoved his face into Peter's space as he babbled about how worried he was for his best friend.

Too many people were asking about his well being and even though it was kind, it was also a bit too much for Peter in the moment.

Everything had happened so fast and now he was simply left standing in the middle of a lab with a throbbing face.

"C'mon," Bucky spoke once more, grabbing Peter's attention, "let's get you cleaned up and have a better look at that nose." He softly held put his hand on Peter's back as he steered the teen away from the group and headed towards the laboratory doors.

Ned moved to follow the two of them, but Peter caught sight of Bruce saying something. Ned turned back to answer and in the moment, Peter and Bucky were able to quickly sneak out.

Peter felt a bit bad about it, but he also simply wanted a moment alone to just take in everything that happened.

.

* * *

.

"Ow," Peter mumbled in a flat tone as Bucky tried to delicately clean his nose.

The two of them had found a restroom rather close by the lab and once they entered, Peter was thankful to see no one else in. It was a small blessing.

"You should be thankful that you only have to say that. If you didn't have your kind of healing, you can bet your ass that you would still be bleeding," Bucky said as he threw away another paper towel.

"Yeah, yeah. Well at least I know when to be thankful for what I have. And one of those times is right now."

Peter then turned around to look at himself in the mirror. It was not too bad. Or at least, it did not hurt as bad as it looked. Then again, it was slowly but surely beginning to look how it felt as Peter's fast healing had already begun to take care of the injury.

From what was still there, Peter could spot a break in his skin along the bridge of his nose. It was probably where he had impacted the floor and started this whole mess. He did remember someone saying that he had been bleeding from two places earlier.

That had been a bit confusing but now Peter realized that the two places had been from the cut as well as a general nose bleed. That had been why Peter had also felt the blood trailing down his face.

The teen grabbed another paper towel then and cleaned up the rest of his face as he looked to Bucky in the mirror when the older man spoke.

"True. But it's not like your schoolmates and teacher know that. How are you going to walk out of here with a mild bruise at best and explain that to them?"

Peter paused for a moment. "Uh, that's a good question."

Bucky gave a quiet, "Hmm," as he moved to lean against a sink as he folded his arms. "What about makeup?"

"What like pretending that I covered it up because I was embarrassed?"

"Well either that or we can make it look like you're still hurt."

"Oh. Uh, which one would be better then?"

"Well if we say that you covered it up, at least you won't actually have to wear anything. That way you don't have to worry about it coming off either."

"Then let's go with that one. Besides, I don't think either one of us has any makeup on them."

"I bet that red head does. What was her name? The one showing you around."

"Erin? Yeah, I guess she might own makeup but that doesn't mean that she has any here. Anyways, I thought I just said that I don't want to wear any? Just let my healing do it's thing and say that I don't want to gross anyone out with how bad the bruising looks."

"Fine," Bucky said as he watched Peter finish washing his face.

Peter then started heading for the door but before he could even reach out for the handle, Bucky was behind him, slamming his hand against the door to keep it closed.

The younger hero was startled by the action and he turned to see the older hero staring at him. It was a bit like what he had previously done with Flash, but at least it was not as aggressive, and his eyes were not filled with hatred.

He was simply staring down at Peter, but he looked more worried rather than angry to Peter.

"Oh, no you don't. Don't think you can get out of talking to me about this."

"Bucky, please. Can we not do this right now?"

"Why not?"

"Because I'm on a tour. I can't just go and talk about all this while there is a group waiting for me out there."

"Then give me the quick notes. I'm not letting up on this door until you tell me something about all this, Pete."

Not knowing what to say, Peter just stared at Bucky's chest seeing as it was at his eye height. He eventually closed his eyes both in hopes of not speaking as well as hoping Bucky would drop the whole thing and let him out of the restroom if he waited long enough.

A minute soon passed and then another.

It seemed that Bucky had been telling the truth and would not let either of them leave without this conversation happening.

Finally, Peter's thoughts came rushing forth and he opened his mouth, prepared to say it all. Instead, his mouth simply hung there as the words refused to escape. It was a bit difficult and Peter did not realize why his body was hesitating.

His eyebrows lowered in confusion and soon, Peter felt an odd feeling on his face. Was be bleeding again?

He touched just above his lip and felt nothing.

Out of nowhere, Bucky leaned forward and wrapped his arms around the entirety of Peter's rather thin body. It was definitely a surprise but not an unwelcome one as Peter automatically wrapped his own arms around the larger man's best as he could. It was a comforting feeling and he eagerly pressed his face into the fabric of the shirt in front of him.

That was when Peter realized that he had been crying. That was what had stopped him from speaking and what had Bucky embracing him.

His hands slowly began fisting the back of Bucky's shirt as Peter tried to stop himself from having a complete emotional meltdown.

He tried his best to keep his chokes and gasps to a minimum as he finally let the tears flow and soak into the older man's shirt. It was almost certainly damp, perhaps even soaking, with how much Peter was finally letting his emotions run rampant.

All the while, Bucky simply leaned against the wall as he supported Peter – physically and mentally. His prosthetic hand rubbed a small circle into Peter's back while the real and warm hand rested atop the crown of Peter's head.

The hand moved away eventually and instead, Peter felt the bump of a nose and chin as Bucky leaned down to press his own face into the top of the teen's head.

Thankful that it did not take too long to cry and let it all out, Peter gave a shaky sigh as he finally tried to collect himself.

He did not try to pull away from Bucky however and instead let his head rest against the other's chest as he continued to listen to the steady heartbeat that pounded away just near his ear. The bunches of a Bucky's tank top were still gathered in his fists, but the man had yet to complain about the fact and so Peter kept the fabric bundled up in his hands.

"How're you feeling now," Bucky murmured into Peter's hair.

A sniffle answered him before Peter finally pulled back from the warmth of Bucky.

"Better now, actually," he said as he wiped the remaining tears from his eyes with the heel of a hand.

"That's good. Now, do you think you can talk to me now?"

The tough exterior bled away then and all that was left was the familiar James "Bucky" Barnes that Peter had gotten used to.

Steve on more than one occasion mentioned how he now acted almost exactly like he used to be back in the day with his lively, concerned eyes and the knack for standing up for 'the little guy'. Bucky then brought his hand up to cup the side of Peter's head as he leaned further down to look into Peter's eyes at his height.

"Yeah," Peter croaked before clearing his throat, "Uh, yes I can talk. Or, I mean, I want to talk. Just a little bit thought because I really meant it when I said that I can't just stay here in the restroom for the rest of the day. I've got to get back to the group since I'm still technically at school right now."

"And you're also technically at home too, ya know. But if you want to just breeze over that for right now, fine. Just tell me what's up and what I can do to help."

"I don't need help," Peter groaned, "I just don't want to be pushed around anymore. You clearly saw what happened back there with Flash making me fall."

"Oh yeah, I did."

"And I hate that I knew it was going to happen. I mean, if I can't see something like that happening, how in the Hell am I supposed to be Spider-man? I just – I don't know, I don't like that I've had to deal with all this crap for so long even before I got bit."

"You know, Peter, having people like your aunt and everyone here at the tower, who want to help and talk to you, are why we are here. I saw what Flash did to you and if how you are talking about all this means that he has been doing this for a while, there are two things I need to say. One, this all clearly tells me that he is a bully. You've been trying to skirt around that word, I noticed. And I won't have that.

"Second, I knew nothing of this before today and that makes me feel both angry and sad. I'm angry with myself for never noticing anything or trying to talk to you more about everyday things that happen to you at school that might have clued me in. But I'm also sad that you never brought this up with me – or anybody, really – before now. You don't deserve to be pushed around verbally or physically. Sure, standing up for yourself is always an option, but so is seeking out help. From anyone.

"And when I say help, I mean in any way. Talking to someone, finding comfort in numbers with other friends, calling a number, seeking out a teacher, or even coming to one of us. There is no reason to be embarrassed about any of that.

"I don't know if you'll want to tell me the reasons why you never said anything, but even if you don't want to, you don't need to. Just know that I do know now, and I want to help. And that doesn't mean that I have to be there to talk to someone or even rough up that punk kid. I can just be the ears to listen to whatever you want to talk about."

Tears filled Peter's eyes again, but he wiped them away before they could fall.

Instead, he hugged Bucky once more as he simply said, "Thank you."

.

* * *

.

Once Peter had finally cleaned himself up from both his nose and the waterworks, the two finally left the restroom and made their way back to the lab.

When they reached the end of the hall and turned to head down the new path, Peter spotted Erin, Mr. Johnson, and Flash standing at the other end of the hall. Peter realized then that when he and Bucky had slipped out of the lab, they had not crossed paths with the other three when they snuck out of the lab. It the entrance had been in the middle of the hallway and Peter had headed off to the left while Erin had clearly turned to the left of the long hall.

Peter and Bucky finally made their way to the laboratory's doors and from the long windows, the teen spotted the rest of his class and Bruce hanging out inside still. It seemed that he was trying to distract them with some interesting gadgets.

Hearing a bit of a raised voice, Peter turned back to the three down the hall and noticed that there were now more people.

Those that had not been there a moment ago were behind Erin and Mr. Johnson, so Peter could not get a clear view of them. What he could see however, as everyone naturally shifted around as they stood there, was the familiar flash of red hair. At first, he thought it was Erin but then he realized that her hair was more of a brighter tone.

It was not Pepper either seeing as her hair was a more soft and mild color. Like a strawberry blonde.

There was only one other person who Peter knew that had such a deep shade of red hair and once the shouting began, Peter easily recognized who it was.

The other newcomer was more familiar however since Peter had seen him not even an hour ago before he jumped into the vents.

Peter realized then that while the entire trip and fall debacle had been going on, the teen had not once heard a peep out of Clint. It seemed that he had been a little busy and had brought out the big guns.

 _Well,_ Peter thought to himself,  _here's hoping Flash doesn't die before the day is over._

**End Chapter Seven**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare you're butts for the next chapter! It is finally coming after seven freaking chapters!
> 
> Also, call me lame if you want, but I thought the simple title for this chapter was clever since it holds a few different meanings in this installment. And the next one. :^)


	8. Punchable Punk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it took so long to upload this chapter. I have a long author's note at the end of the chapter that was too long to put in the end notes that talk about the reasons why. Read it or don't. There will be no hurt feelings on my side. :)
> 
> As of posting this chapter, it has been eleven days since November 12, 2018. The day a great man by the name of Stan Lee passed away. May his legacy continue to shape our pop culture into something wonderful and amazing. Rest in Peace, Mr. Lee.

The sight of Clint was not as surprising as it could have been, but it was still a bit of a shock to see him back out of the vents so soon.

As Peter thought about it more however, he realized that of course Clint would have acted after what Peter had just went through. For him to witness the teen falling on his face in such a way after being purposefully tripped, it was a no-brainier to think that the archer would high tail it out of there once he realized that Bucky and Bruce had it somewhat taken care of.

And of course, he would go off searching for the one person that Peter just  _knew_  could flip everything on its head.

Or at least make everything even more uncomfortable seeing as the person in question was an assassin who knew how to 'take care' of people in the worst ways possible.

At Peter's side, Bucky lifted his head in recognition as well and moved passed Peter to head over to the other side of the long hallway. Not wanting to be left behind, and wanting to see what was going on, Peter had to jog over as he tried to keep pace with Bucky's large strides.

Finally, within somewhat of an earshot to the conversation, the first thing that Peter picked up was, "…could always hang him by his toes for an hour or two," from the one and only Natasha Romanoff.

Yikes. What a statement.

And even if she was just trying to scare Flash with those words, Peter knew all too well that she could most certainly do such a thing. She had probably done it before in the first place.

"Uh, no, I don't think that will be necessary," Erin nervously said as she flashed her eyes over to the other redhead.

"Shame," Natasha replied as she folded her arms and tilted her chin up so that she was looking down upon everyone else.

By now, Peter and Bucky had finally made their way over to the small group. Bucky easily slid up in-between Natasha and Clint as he joined the small circle.

When Peter slowly made his way to stand between Clint and Erin, he could see Flash just standing in between Erin and Mr. Johnson. He was shifting his eyes every few minutes, going from looking at his shoes, to Natasha, to Erin, to Mr. Johnson, and then back to his shoes. His shoulders were raised so much as Flash tried to lower his neck to hide, that he looked like he might permanently stay in a hunched position.

"Well what are we gonna do with the little shit?" Clint said as he mimicked his partner in crime and folded his arms.

"Mr. Barton!" Erin said in a shocked tone. "Please, don't use such language. It is quite unprofessional."

"Hey, I'm sorry doc, but it's true. And sorry to say and to pull the hierarchy card, but you can't really do anything to stop me from saying that."

Mr. Johnson gave a mild glare to the archer as he shifted a bit closer to Erin, seeming to recognize that out of all the people in the hallway, she was the more level headed and logical one. And that she would probably try to find a more balanced discipline for his student.

Erin did not reply to Clint with any heated words and instead turned to look away as she pursed her lips to stop from doing or saying anything else.

Peter felt a bit awkward from that, but he must have been the only one since when he turned to see what Natasha and Bucky thought, he saw both staring Flash down, ignoring the conversation going on between archer and scientist.

Flash finally spotted Peter standing in the small ring of people. The look he gave was a combination of anger and worry.

The worried part of it might have urged Peter to be nice to the other teen even after all that he had been put thought from Flash, but seeing the anger there stopped him. It seemed that even after pulling such a stunt back in the lab and being dragged out into the hall with so many people watching his every move, he still found the time to be his arrogant self and try to demean Peter with just a look.

Hoping that by ignoring the stare Peter would be able to stop the sinking feeling in his stomach, the young hero let his eyes fall to the ground as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

Bucky must have caught the brief interaction as he gave an audible growl as he yanked Peter by his arm to pull him behind himself, shielding most of the teen with his large figure so that Flash would not be able to glare at Peter in such a way.

"You really think that's going to help out your defense?" Bucky said once he made sure that Peter would not have to look at Flash.

"What defense? I don't need one. This is crazy anyways. I didn't do anything to Parker and I don't need to be grilled like this."

"So you say," Natasha said, "but I have at least two eye witnesses that say that you purposefully injured Peter."

"Well then their liars."

"Oh really?" Natasha said as a smirk grew on her lips and a single eyebrow raised.

Flash just nodded his head as he continued to frown at her.

"Well I had no idea that you knew Clint and Bucky so well. Are you guys friends?"

"Nope," Clint said with a nasty smile on his face.

"I don't think so," Bucky growled again.

Finally realizing just who he had called out, the blood rushed from Flash's face as he began to look a bit pale. He tried to speak, perhaps hoping to find an excuse or reason for why he did such a thing to Peter in the first place. Or perhaps even trying to think of a reason as to why he was trying to discredit a witness to something that he apparently did not do.

"Is this true Mr. Thomson?" Mr. Johnson finally spoke. "Did you injure Mr. Parker on purpose?"

"Of course not!"

"Don't you dare lie," Natasha interrupted, "I have a lot of skills, kid, and I  _know_ when a person is lying. So why don't you try again."

Mr. Johnson gave a weary look to Natasha at those words, but he eventually turned back to Flash to hear what he had to say. Flash continued to glare at everyone who dared look him in the eye. He would open his mouth occasionally, then close it as though he could not think up a lie quick enough.

It seemed to go on for a few more seconds. A few seconds too many.

Seemingly angry with how her prey was not responding the way she wanted, Natasha finally lunged forward. She took the last remaining steps between her and Flash so that she now stood directly in front of him. Chest to chest, she was a bit shorter than him, but her heels worked in her favor. She now stood over Flash by just a hair, yet her eyes and fierce ire seemed to make her eight feet tall.

Peter was surprised to see her reach forward and physically grab the other teen's chin in a finger and thumb.

She leaned forward more as she stared directly into Flash's eyes, with not even two inches between their faces. She did not whisper so everyone was easily able to hear her speak when she said, "Do not play games with me, boy."

"What the hell?! Hey, let go of me lady! You can't just go around grabbing people. Especially students. I could sue you for touching me."

"Say what now?" Natasha asked as she leaned further in, almost plastering her face to his. Peter caught sight of her fingers seeming to dig further into Flash's chin and he flinched at the pressure. He did not say another word as the assassin continued to intimidate and pinch him.

Mr. Johnson and Erin reacted to her actions and moved forward as though to finally interrupt what was going on. They shouted their own exclamations as they tried to urge Natasha back off from the kid, but the redhead shot a heated look in their direction, making both stop where they were with arms raised in protest. She did seem to listen to their shouts however as she then moved away from Flash, letting go of his chin in the process.

Everyone could see the post where she had pinched skin as it was paler than the surrounding skin before it bloomed into a reddish tint, showing off how much pressure that had used.

Natasha then turned her attention to Erin and Mr. Johnson and stared them down like she had just done to Flash.

Peter thought that she seemed angrier to the fact that she could not play with her newfound chew toy as opposed to being angry at the two adults who interrupted her.

It seemed that they were just as intimidated by her as much as Flash was when Erin was quick to look away and the graying teacher sputtered a bit at being the center of the assassin's attention. He made sure to step further in however to grab Flash by a shoulder and urged him to step more than an arm's length away from Natasha.

"Don't interfere." the red head finally said to the two as she allowed the teacher to take his student. "This is now a major problem for Stark Industries and as his teacher, you no longer have any authority, Mr. Johnson. As for you, Dr. White, you are no longer the one here with the highest authority. Clint and I out rank you and I say that this matter has become very important. You may continue to lead this group around but seeing as I have a higher badge ranking than you, if something should happen, I can and will take over and do what I think is best."

"You mean that I can keep going?" Erin said as her eyes widened in surprise.

"Unfortunately, yes. I am a Red badge holder but even that does not stop others from being a higher rank even within the same color even if it is only two people who are higher than me. I'm sure you can take an easy guess as to who those two might be. Seeing as there are other things that even I can't do – and you should know that I loath to admit that – I am going to be attending the rest of this tour. I'm going to make sure that this brat will not even put a toe out of line for the rest of the day.

"You should know that even though I am doing this and not kicking him out, is because I do not have the proper authority to kick him out of Stark Industries. That will not stop me however, from doing just that should Eugene do or even think of doing something against Peter, another student, or an employee that is in this building."

Flash audibly gulped at that.

"So, what, we just keep going like none of these past few minutes have happened? I have a serious issue here with some of my students. Something needs to be done be it here or at least back at school!" Mr. Johnson practically shouted.

Peter felt conflicted about hearing such a thing just then. Sure, he was impressed that even after hearing such a speech from Natasha, Mr. Johnson was able to say what was on his mind and disagree with how the redhead wanted to handle thing. But at the same time, Peter was beginning to feel angry at his teacher.

Sure, having everything dealt with would be fantastic news, but Peter sure as hell did not want it to be solved right this minute for a variety of reasons.

The one reason that stood out to him was the fact that Tony was not here. He was the head honcho (besides Pepper) and he most definitely wanted the older man to be here to help him deal with all of this.

"My point exactly," Natasha said, interrupting Peter's thoughts. He looked over to her and saw a smug smile bloom across her lips. "Since this happened here, we can make sure that the issue is taken care of here." She shot her lidded eyes back over to Flash once more, letting him quite clearly see her bloodthirsty smile. "So don't you worry, teach, this will all be dealt with today. But if you're really that eager to get this all sorted out, I'll gladly take care of this right now."

"Okay there, Nat," Clint finally interrupted, "sorry, but I that's my queue to jump in. Yeah, I would love nothing more than to see you deal out whatever it is you want to do to this little piece of-"

He looked over to Erin just in time to see her frown in disappointment at his choice of words. It seemed that he thought better of it as he corrected himself, "I mean, this little punk, but we really should have someone else take care of all this."

Natasha showed off an amused look as she spared a glance to Clint, clearly saying that she agreed with what Clint had been about to call Flash. The look changed however once she absorbed his words and she gave a frown as she turned back to look down at Flash as though he was the cause for every little thing.

When it seemed that she would not say anything to defend her standing or to argue against him, Clint spoke up once more. "I totally understand how you're feeling Nat, don't get me wrong. But I feel like I need to be the voice of reason between the two of us. Yes, this kid cannot think that his actions don't have consequences. And this one was a big deal," Clint spared a glare to Flash as well, "so he will definitely get what's coming to him. Just, not from us and not right this minute."

"I get it Clint, but you can't stop me from doing  _something_  at least."

"Yeah, I see your point, but don't you think it would just be better if was Pepper that took care of all this? She is the freaking boss of this whole place."

"Or course, but I want in on the fun too. And if that means that I have to follow around a bunch of whiney teenagers to make sure something gets done today, so be it."

Clint gave an accepting sigh as he moved away. "Well, just don't try to do everything on your own. I'll come with you at least so there's that. But besides, can you seriously not take a guess at who would be the best to talk about all of this? He will totally go into Raging Dad Mode."

The redhead finally had a look on her face that spoke of her consideration at the archer's words. With a lifted eyebrow and a growing smirk, she turned back to Flash to give him a once over before she finally turned to look at Peter.

The young hero awkwardly shifted at the stare.

Seeming to notice, she smoothly made her way over to the teens side and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

Letting it happen because he both enjoyed the action, feeling a bit safer in her little web, but also because he knew it was always best to go along with her in these types of situations, Peter forced himself to relax his shoulders and leaned a bit into her even if she was shorter than him.

He caught her smiling one of her classic looks back over to Flash once again, "Maybe you're right Clint. It would be quite the show to see how this might pan out if we got the C.E.O. of this place and Tony involved. I'm sure it will be spectacular."

"Too bad that means we'll have to wait a bit longer. That damned tin can man is still in that meeting. I think there was a problem and now the meeting is expected to be held over by an hour or two."

"I'm sure if we tell him about all this, he'll drop that meeting like a hot potato. There is not way he would ever purposefully ignore all this if he was let in on it." Natasha then rummaged around in one of her pouches that rested on the hips of her suit. Once her hand reappeared, it held a phone that she quickly began tapping away at.

"You're so right," Clint said with an eager smile on his face, "He would flip his lid if a single hair on Peter's head was cut by a millimeter. There is no damn way that he would stay a second longer in that boring meting if he knew what was going on down here."

Flash's eyes fully widened at those words. Peter caught a bit of perspiration finally forming on his forehead as well. The young hero noticed from his peripheral someone else twitch at those words and Peter turned to see the tense shoulders of Mr. Johnson.

"Now, please," the teacher said to Natasha once more, "do we really need to get the C.E.O. involved? This is all a bit too much, don't you think? Yes, I agree that we cannot let this entire thing be swept under the rug, but…"

"But your student harmed another of your students. If it had been anywhere else, I'm sure only the school would need to be involved, but unfortunately for you and Mr. Thompson, he had to go and do this, along with finally showing his true colors in general, here at Stark Industries. Where the one who was the victim in all of this is an employee if this establishment."

"You mean Parker really works here?" Flash blurted out.

Everyone turned to look at him at the same time. It seemed that even now, he did not have a brain between his ears to filter his words.

"Uh, yeah?" Clint said. "I mean, isn't that obvious?"

Flash did not verbally reply as he was too busy looking like a fish out of water. Mr. Johnson looked a bit shocked as well, but he was a bit better at getting over the information quickly. He seemed a bit flustered as his pale cheeks grew pink. Mr. Johnson then gave a cough to gain the groups attention.

When Peter looked over and caught the older man's eye, his teacher said to him, "Well I guess it is a bit obvious when you say it like that. Well then, I guess there's not much I can do now. Mr. Parker, I would like to take this minute to say that I am sorry for not believing that you worked here. I'm sorry that this has been happening to you for a while now. And I'm sorry to admit, that I might have had some suspicions, but I never really did my best to help you until now, when it is quite obvious. I know it's not worth much now, but I would still like to take the time to apologize. I should have done better by you as both your teacher and as an adult figure in your life."

It was an impressive thing to finally hear from someone. It was also from an authority figure that had been there for a while now and had not noticed everything that had been happening.

Then again, even if Peter wanted to be completely angry with his entering teacher, Peter knew that he could not put all the blame onto him. Flash knew how to keep out of sight of any authority at school. The anger that had been bubbling for a few minutes how seemed to dissolve all at one.

Sure, having Mr. Johnson figure something out sooner would have been the best thing to have happened to everyone involved, but Peter supposed that he should try to be mature about this – even if just slightly.

He gave a deep sigh and slowly let it out as he looked his teacher in the eyes, "It's alright, I guess. I mean, yeah, I'm angry that this has been going on like this, but you can't take all the blame, you're only one teacher in the whole school."

The graying teacher frowned at those words. "I may agree with you a bit on that, Mr. Parker but that thought also makes me ashamed to be a part of a school's staff that had no idea that there has been a bully roaming the halls." As he said the last few words, he had turned to look over to Flash as well and gave a deep frown at his other student.

That made Peter a bit happier to see that he finally had a teacher from his school on his side.

.

* * *

.

It seemed after that, the small group was able to come to some sort of agreement.

Flash would be monitored for the rest of the school fieldtrip for both safety as well as security – from both sides.

Mr. Johnson, while still their teacher and the chaperone for the whole thing, would not have a lot of power for the rest of the trip. He would still be able to monitor the rest of his students, but when it would come to Flash and the consequences of what he had done to an employee of Stark Industries while in the Stark Industries building, his fate would be up to the higher ups.

Natasha and by extension, Clint, would be following to monitor everyone involved. She would simply be out in the open with the group and he would retreat into his vents to observe from another vantage point.

Bucky wanted to tag along as well, but once they made their way back into the lab where Bruce was still trying to keep the other students occupied, he easily swayed Bucky into staying with him in the lab.

There were a few heated words between the two that only Peter heard seeing as they had tried to walk away a bit before starting that conversation from all the curious teenage ears. He could have sworn he also heard Bucky growl at one point. Bruce might have growled back but Peter was not too sure about that.

A few choice words told Peter that Bruce was worried that Bucky might actually do something and not just sound intimidating like Natasha had done. Peter had to disagree with Bruce on that because he could totally see Nat being serious about her threats.

Bucky of course argued that he would do no such thing but apparently Bruce was more persuasive than Peter thought because he then gave the argument that having two heroes being obvious about following around a group of fifteen teenagers, who are supposed to be on a simple tour of the building, would stand out. Since Natasha was the first to say she would go, it ruled Bucky out of the equation.

He tried to argue for a few more minutes before he slowly began to cool down.

When he finally did, Bucky finally gave his sigh of acceptance. It did not stop him from taking Peter aside once more to talk about everything.

The super soldier wanted to remind Peter about how he had options to talk to a lot of people that would be more than happy to help or even just listen to whatever he wanted to talk about. It was very comforting, and Peter gave another hug to the solder hero before they separated. He also urged Peter to ask for help even for the rest of the fieldtrip is something happened. Even with Natasha there, Bucky made sure that the teen hero understood that Bucky was just one call away and he would eagerly run to his side should he ask for it.

Peter gave his wholeheartedly thanks to those words and made sure to squeeze the elder man in a large hug.

When the entire situation was finally over and done with, the tour group of fifteen had grown to seventeen and Bucky and Bruce reluctantly returned to their previous work with the prosthetic arm.

Not a whole lot was explained to the rest of the group of teenagers, though Peter knew that they were all smart in their own rights, so he thought that it was a possibility that they all had somewhat of an idea about what was going on. It was not like it was a big secret within the student population of the school that Flash bullied, and tormented people and that Peter was one of those individuals.

Still, it was a bit fun to watch Erin try to find a reasonable excuse as to why they now had Black Widow following them around.

The assassin gave the excuse that she was following the group around as a general security thing for Stark Industries. And seeing as how she was close to Tony Stark, Natasha had agreed to overlook the place in the disguise of a fellow tour guide. It was surprisingly a fitting camouflage once Peter spotted Natasha dressed up in her own business formal clothes with the signature lab coat on top.

The two redheads could have easily passed off as siblings if not twins, they were so similar.

Even though Peter knew that his fellow classmates were brilliant in their own ways, hence their reason for being at such a smart high-school, it did not stop the teenagers from be gullible and falling for Natasha's excuse. Then again, Peter could not blame them too much since he would have probably believed a hero like Black Widow too if he were in their shoes.

As they finally escaped from the floor and scene that had life altering scene that played out here, to head to lunch, Peter knew then (as he stood within his group of fellow classmates, Mr. Johnson, his tour guide, an assassin, and an archer hidden in the vents) that the rest of the day would be very,  _very_ interesting.

* * *

  **End Chapter Eight**

* * *

  **My 'Excuse' Notes:**

**(That are too long to go in the actual notes section. Sorry.)**

**TL;DR at bottom**

* * *

So, I have had some serious writer's block for the first time with this story. For the most part, this thing had been writing itself and I was just the conductor for the whole thing. But then chapter seven happened. It led this story down a path that I was not completely sure about, but I went with it and wound up posting the chapter.

Then came time to write chapter eight. This chapter that you just read.

Oh boy, it was a wild time. I had college classes to think about, I was slowly losing some motivation, and I just could not think of the right place for this thing to go. I eventually wound up writing a few different versions of this chapter throughout these past weeks, but I kept scrapping them for one reason or another. Plans backfired, the plot was going off in a weird place, or the whole thing simply didn't make sense. Honestly, this was a combination of my third and fourth rewrite and even though I am still not completely happy with it, I decided to go with it anyways.

This hallway scene was supposed to be half of this chapter, but it wound up being the whole freaking thing! So, I think you'll be happy to realize that this story might evolve a bit and so, I am removing the 10 chapter prediction that I made a while back. I don't know how long it will be now however.

Sorry for this long thing but if you made it this far, take an internet cookie!

 **TL;DR:**  Life happened but I'm still kicking and writing this. Oh, and it's probably going to be more than 10 chapters now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have 'excuse' notes at the end of the actual chapter that are too long to put in here. If you don't want to read them, please at least check out the TL;DR at the very bottom.
> 
>  
> 
> Please let me know what you think of everyone's actions and interactions with one another. I think I have been having a bit of trouble trying to keep everyone acting and speaking how their characters usually are while also giving a bit of my own interpretations. I also want to get your thoughts on just everyone else interacting with one another.
> 
> It was kind of hard to write Natasha without making her come off as rude or a jackass in the first half of this chapter. I didn't want Clint to be the total voice of reason because he is also biased to the fact the he hates Flash. But I still needed someone in this chapter to at least be somewhat in the middle.
> 
> I wanted to make my original character, Erin, dynamic. Meaning that she has her flaws as well and may not get along with everyone and some will not get along with her – at least for one reason of another. Mr. Johnson was another original character of mine that I didn't want to be completely on Flash's side, but I also didn't want him to just be all, "Oh, okay I guess I'll just hand over my student to be verbally chewed out by everyone."


	9. Challenging Choice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for yet another gap between posts. I have my reasons, yadda yadda, you get the picture. I won't bore you with my excuses. Except for one where I selfishly announce that I am now a college graduate.
> 
> Just enjoy the chapter!
> 
> Also, I want to give a shout out to some people. They have really helped me out with figuring out the future of this story and overall advice that I have really appreciated. Thank you, "Scandalf", "Viviegirl05"and super-duper thanks to "Lost It Never Had It". The advice, critiques, and even occasional tough love helped me so much!

Heading down to the dining hall was not as bad as Peter thought it might be. Sure, it was cramped with eighteen people all bunched together in the elevator, but at least they had been in one of the freight ones that usually took heavy machinery up and down the entire tower.

Peter had to force himself to hunch his shoulders together when he had been stuffed into the lift.

At any other time in his life, he might have been somewhat ecstatic when he realized that Natasha Romanoff had been leaning half her weight against Peter to make sure others had room. But after the first few seconds where she was practically babying him by wrapping an arm around his shoulders to make sure that no one else could get near, made Peter glad to finally escape the small confines when the doors slid open.

Or at least, he hoped to get off quickly. But seeing as he had been pushed to the back corner when he had first stepped on and then had been surrounded by Ned and Natasha, he was practically the last one off once everyone in front finally found their feet and filed out.

Flash had been at the front the elevator, with Mr. Johnson hovering over his shoulder and Erin near the teacher in return. Peter noticed how even Flash's so-called friends were a bit of a ways away from the three. He was not sure if it was because they were looking out for themselves or because someone had told them to stay away, but regardless, Peter was gleeful at the sight of Flash being watched over like he was.

He and Mr. Johnson were thus one of the first off and maneuvered to the side so that when Peter finally got off as well, they were separated as far apart as their group would allow. Erin made sure of it before she began ushering the rest out and then herself.

At least she was always on top of making sure that her group was accounted for, even if it got a bit annoying to see her acting slightly bossy.

When he passed Erin on his way out, Peter just so happened to notice her looking over his shoulder, clearly making eye contact with Natasha seeing as she was the only one who had been standing behind the teen.

He turned slightly to see how the assassin would react and he noticed an odd look that passed between the two women before they both looked away at the same time. Peter made sure to turn back forward as well, hoping the two of them did not see him spying. If he could even call his looking that.

From his perspective, he genuinely could not tell if they had been glaring at one another or simply trying to speak without words. If it happened to come out some time later that they were playing some sort of game or act, he would not be surprised.

Either way, watching how all three adults interacted to make sure that he and Flash were distanced made him feel better already.

As Peter stayed lost in through about everything that had happened thus far and wondering about Erin and Nat's weird moment, he was brought back to reality when he finally paid attention to where he was. He took in the sights and sounds of the dining hall as he heard Jason speak up.

"Wow, is this whole floor just one big cafeteria?"

"Yes, it is," Erin distractedly said as the pointed a finger to everyone as she mouthed numbers to herself.

Peter continued to look out into the large space with everyone else and once he took everything, his ears finally caught up.

The large space was filled with rows upon rows of bench tables. The ceiling lights from high up reflected upon the surfaces and even with so many people eating, the tables were fairly clean, and there was not much littering on the floor.

Peter noticed all kinds of people currently milling about and sitting at the tables, talking and laughing to each other, eating their fill. People walked by with trays of the most amazing looking and smelling food, surprising Peter a bit at how nice some of the meals looked. It sure was nothing like their high school lunches.

He finally felt and heard his stomach let itself be known and lightly patted his abdomen as he looked around some more, taking in all the different franchises he could spot and the signs that enticed him with all kinds of different foods and flavors.

The more he took in besides all the amazing smells was how the space was so large that with all the talking and moving around, it was quite loud. Almost too loud in fact.

There was an echo to the space with the ceiling being quite tall and the place not having much to absorb the sound. The faux rafters up above had rows of long lights hanging down from them, making the large room feel both larger and smaller at the same time. From either side of where Peter was standing were huge windows that took in the familiar city-scape while letting in plenty of natural light. The perspective was a bit familiar and Peter asked Erin about it.

"Yes, since this is the main dining hall for the building, it had to be large and accessible to not just workers but visitors like you guys. We are only on the second floor right now, directly above the entrance hall and that small museum we were at when we met with Mr. Rogers."

"Well that's cool," Ned said, "So people don't have to go so high up if there were visiting and you don't have to worry about security and people snooping around upstairs where they're not supposed to be."

"You got it in one," Erin smiled. "Sure, it's a bit of a hassle for people like me who typically work on the higher floors, but like I said, this place is just the main hub where most people choose to eat. There are some smaller break rooms every few floors. But those are strictly employees only so that's why I brought you guys down here. And besides, who wouldn't want to eat here? I can guarantee that there is something here for everyone to eat."

"Mr. Stark is seriously the best," Ned mumbled to himself as he went back to admiring all the different neon signs and large menus that they could read from where they stood.

Jason must have heard since he was standing near the two friends when he replied, "Right? Like, who in their right mind decides to put in an entire McDonald's here? And not just them either. I can see Taco Bell and Popeye's Chicken! This is literally heaven."

"There's just one problem that we must face," Peter said with a sad look on his face. He pretended to wipe away a tear as he turned to the other two, "How in the hell are we supposed to _pick_?"

"No, no, no, Peter. I think you mean to say, how in the hell are we supposed to pick _first_ ," Ned replied at he pretended to wipe away a tear as well.

Jason gave a snort that he tried to hide behind a hand as he looked back and forth between Peter and Ned. He gave his own nod in agreement.

Erin spoke up again, and the three boys turned back to give her their attention.

"Well, as you can clearly see, this is the main dining hall for Stark Industries. I'm sure all of you have already taken the opportunity to look around and see what there is to offer. Just to cover all the bases however, let me briefly talk about everything before you all run off and stuff your faces.

"As I previously said, this entire floor is the food court for both employees and visitors. The wall in front of us are food chain restaurants that have rented out some space. There's plenty to choose from. And even though I am not your guardian, I'm still an adult and so I would like to take this time to say that just because you're here with so many fast food places to pick from, please consider restraining yourselves. We don't need to be consuming all those calories now do we?"

There were some mumbles from the teens as they looked at one another, clearly annoyed to have heard Erin mothering them. The red head still gave a smile even though she obviously heard.

"Over to the left are a few buffet lines with plenty to choose from. One of my favorites is the second to last one. It's a salad bar and yes, groan and moan all you want you darn teenagers, but I will have you know that that bar has some of the most amazing cherry tomatoes! I must admit, I love going over there all the time. So damn good."

Peter traded an odd look with Ned and Jason at Erin's passion for fruit and he spotted others with faces that clearly said they were thinking the same thing.

Erin noticed the odd silence and looked around only to see the group giving her an odd look.

"What? I'm a health nut, okay? Geeze. Sure, think I'm weird all you want but I totally bet that everyone here has a favorite food that they're passionate about."

Giggles and chuckles replied to her.

Peter could not tell for sure if they were laughing at or with Erin, but either way, their guide gave a smile with a blush on her face. She tried to be professional once she got the laughter out of her system and tried to conclude her small briefing.

"To the right are a few meeting rooms actually. People use them for the usual lunch and occasional dinner meetings. And near those rooms are also some vending machines that surprisingly have a bit of variety if your just in a snacking mood. And well, that's it I suppose."

"So, we can eat from anywhere in here? There's not like, some kind of fast pass for workers or even certain placed that only they can eat at?" Casey asked as she eyed a few lines that currently had only employees in line.

"Yes, you can go anywhere you like. Since this is supposed to be the relaxing part of the day, and I don't want to rush you guys, let's take our time here. How does an hour sound? That will have us getting out of here around," she pulled out her phone from lab coat and looked down at it, "around 2:00 p.m. Does that sound alright? That way you guys don't have to worry about using up your time in line trying to get something instead of sitting down.

"Please, help yourselves. I assume you all have money to purchase your meals. Sit where ever you like too. Just want to let you know that I will either sitting with Mr. Johnson and the other teachers or wandering around to speak with some co-workers. Once two o'clock has rolled around, please group around the pillar nearest the vending machines."

With that, Erin was the first to split away, clearly stating that the rest were free to roam around on their own.

Remembering that he was being babysat, Peter turned around to ask what Natasha wanted to do but when he did, he noticed that she was nowhere to be seen. It was startling as well as confusing. She had just been there not even a minute ago and yet now, she vanished.

"Hey, uh, Ned? Did you happen to catch where Natasha went?"

"Black Widow? Yeah, dude, she's just over-" Ned stopped as he turned around. He had, just like Peter, assumed that the assassin had been right behind them. He turned back to Peter with an equally confused look upon his face. "Uh, Pete? Where did she go?"

The two wound up sharing a shrug in confusion and continued to look around for a few seconds, wondering where in the world the woman had gone.

Peter was worried for her for a whole three seconds before he reminded himself just who he was being worried for. She could most definitely handle herself. Besides, they were still in Stark Tower where it was almost impossible for a serious threat to try and do something.

She had probably gone off on her own for her own reason. Oh well. Even with her not obviously watching over him, Peter knew that Clint was still up there, being her eyes and ears.

Peter internally gave a sigh before turning back to Ned, reading to debate where they should go first to grab their lunch.

.

* * *

.

Samantha dragged Casey away and Mr. Johnson followed Flash and his friends to keep an eye on them. The other girls walked off as their own smaller group while Trent split up with some of the other guys and in the end, the only three left standing together were Peter, Ned, and Jason.

The two friends traded a look before a grin blossomed across their faces after they agreed that their first stop would be getting some burgers and fries. They were just about to head off too when Peter caught how alone Jason seemed when no one had asked him to tag along with the other groups.

Right away, without having to think about it at all, Peter called out to him. "Hey, Jason? What're you doing just standing there? There's a freaking McDonald's over there! C'mon, man."

The grateful smile the dark-haired teen gave at the invitation made Peter happy that he had done it

Jason quickly caught up to them as they started heading further into the spacious room. They passed plenty of tables and the more that they did the hared it became for them to decide what they would choose to eat.

Finally, they neared the back where the main food stalls were.

Yet, as Peter continued to pass more and more people, he started to notice a few familiar faces. It took a few moments to determine _how_ he knew the faces he was looking at before he caught the eye of another teen. It was a girl that Peter had previously had a crush on back in middle school but had very quickly turned him down when he had only tried to be her friend.

That was when the young hero remembered that his class was not the only one from Midtown High School that was here in the building. He took another good look around and realized that he was seeing a lot of his peers sitting around, enjoying themselves. Peter even spotted the other chaperoning teachers sitting together.

Peter scanned the rest of the room and finally found the one person he was trying to find in the large mass of people.

Off to the side a bit, and not too far away from where most of the teachers were hanging out, was M.J.

She was at the same long table as the group of adults, but she was at the very end where she could rest her backpack at her side to prevent anyone from trying to sit right next to her.

Without thinking, Peter eagerly raised his arm in a wave, trying to get her attention. She did not spot his flailing as she was face deep in a book, occasionally picking up an apple slice with a toothpick.

"Hey, M.J.!" Peter finally called out, not realizing how loud his voice got.

Various people turned around to look their way, including some of the teachers. Once they realized who was being loud however, they fondly rolled their eyes before going back to their conversation.

Peter gave an uncomfortable laugh at all the attention but waved it off when he realized that M.J. had finally heard him when she lifted her head up from her book. The toothpick was dangling from her mouth and Peter thought it looked pretty cute. He shook his head to erase the thought.

Ignoring the rumbling that his stomach was still making, Peter changed directions and made a beeline to where M.J. was sitting. He heard pairs of feet behind him and Peter was a bit ashamed to forget that he was with Ned and Jason.

"Hey, sorry," he said as he turned to look at them. "You guys can go get in line if you want. I just wanted to make sure that we had a place to sit." It was a bit of a poor excuse, but he had not better thing to say for why he wanted to see M.J. so quick.

Ned gave him a funny look with an odd smile on his face. It left quickly though when Ned said, "It's okay. I'm glad we found where M.J. was in all this mess. Kinda sucks that we didn't come across her while we were touring around through."

"Yeah, I was wondering about that too," Jason said, "But you also got to remember that this place is freaking huge. Sure, all the groups might have had the same destinations planned out, but the order was different on purpose I'm sure of it. Can't have too many kids in one place, I guess."

Ned gave a laugh and a nod in agreement.

By then, they finally walked up to the table. M.J. settled her book to the side after placing a napkin as a bookmark and looked up to them with a twitch of her lips.

"What up, Tweddle Dee and Dumb. And uh, third person."

"Uh, hi. I'm Jason Wolfe. I'm uh, not sure if you remember me much. We actually were in the same-"

"Whatever. Don't care. Just know that if you take a seat here with us, you will _officially_ be considered a loser." Her words seemed a bit harsh, but Peter was still able to see the shine of mischief in her eyes.

Jason must have caught on a little bit because he did eventually crack a smile at her and tried to casually slide onto the bench seat as he swung his legs over. Once settled, he folded his arms across the surface and looked back to M.J. "Like this?"

"Yup. Like that." She gave a small smile before it left. She turned to Peter and Ned when they greeted her at the same time as they sat down too.

"What's up, M.J."

"Hey M.J."

"Hey. What took you guys so long to get here? Most of the groups have been hanging out here for like, twenty minutes already."

"Yeah, that's probably my fault."

M.J. gave a look that told him to continue as she grabbed another apple slice.

"I uh, tripped and sort of smashed my face. It was kind of a mess, so I had to go clean up."

Ned grumbled to himself at the way Peter breezed over the real reason he had tripped, but let it go. For now.

"Not to mention that we also got to meet Captain America!" Jason eagerly said as he leaned on his crossed arms. "That dude was freaking _huge_ but super nice. He kind of did an impromptu thing with us and answered some questions. He also let us take a picture with him. I remember after that Erin said it would cut into something else later on since it was an unplanned thing."

"Well I don't care then," Ned replied. "If the price paid for being able to hang out with Captain America for a while is losing some time from out lunch break, I would gladly fast for twenty-four hours if it meant I could be in his presence for just as long."

"You are such a fan boy," M.J. snorted with a grin finally blooming across her face.

"You know it! It's my best personality trait," he said as he rubbed his finger nails across his chest and stuck his nose into the air.

The other three cracked up at that.

At that moment, a couple of employees walked by with trays filled with food. They caught the eyes of the laughing teens and they greeted them with their own smiles before moving along.

Ned obviously noticed them first and even after they walked away, he followed the two of them with his eyes as he watched them sit down at a nearby vacant table. His mouth was slightly open and though he was not actually drooling, Peter just knew that if he left his best friend sit here longer than he already had, he just might.

"Hey, Ned, how about you go on ahead and get lunch. I just kind of want to hang out a minute and rest from everything we've done today."

"Well, if you insist," he quickly said as he scrabbled up from the table and onto his feet. He paused to turn back, "Do you want me to get you anything?"

"Sure, just a regular burger, please. No cheese," Peter said as he tossed his wallet to his friend.

"Medium coke and fries?"

"You know it."

"Jason? You want me to get you anything?"

"Oh! No, it's okay. I'll just come with you, if that's alright?"

"Of course! The more the merrier, as they say."

Jason smiled as he stood up to follow Ned. As they began to walk away, Peter could just make out Jason saying, "And who is this 'they' that say that?" and Ned replying, "You know, I have no idea," before they got lost in the crowd of chatter that filled up the huge food court.

"So, what did your group get to see so far?" M.J. said as she continued to eat her fruit.

Peter turned back from watching Ned and Jason get in line to face her, "Not much."

"Wow, you are such a bad lair."

"Well it's not like you don't know that we got to meet Captain America. Our tour guide, Erin, is pretty nice and cool. We went to see some of the museums and after went up to her lab. Apparently, she likes to work with batteries. Kind of weird, but different. So that was cool."

M.J. hummed to acknowledge that she was listening even as she let her eyes begin to wander around. Peter did not mind seeing as he was just as interested in looking around at everything as well. He did remember just then that even though she knew that he interned here, Peter did not talk much about his time while in Stark Industries because it usually involved being a hero and she still did not know that part about him.

That did not however, stop Peter from remembering that he had been able to see Dr. Banner today. M.J. was very interested in the man and who was Peter to deny telling her about what he did today.

"You know how I just said that I accidentally smashes my face on the ground in her lab?"

"Uh, yeah? But do you know how I just said that you are a terrible lair? Sure, your as dorky and clumsy as they come, but I do have eye and saw that Ned definitely disagreed with you on that."

Damn Ned and his mumbling!

Peter gave a poor laugh in reply and instead of treading on that topic too much, he tried to change the subject back to Dr. Banner. "Well anyways, we were in Erin's lab when that happened and when we got there, Bruce Banner was working."

"Really?" M.J. said as she shot her eyes back to Peter, interested now. "What was he doing? Was he working on anything interesting?"

"Uh, yeah. I mean, I think it was cool, but it wasn't really anything that he's known for doing. He was working on a prosthetic arm for the Winter Soldier. He was there too by the way."

"That man is a genius. I'm not surprised that worked on something else outside of what he's known for and would do something like that. How was the Winter Soldier?"

"Quiet."

"Oh. Well I can relate to that at least. Who likes talking all the time?"

"You're been pretty chatty right now."

"Shut up." She threw her last slice at Peter's forehead.

It bounced off and landed on the table in between them. Peter laughed as he reached for it but was beaten to it when someone else reached for it. He looked up, in both surprise and confusion, only to see Natasha standing there, munching on one end of the slice as she leaned her hip against the edge of the table.

"Uh, hi Nat."

"Hey brat and other brat."

"Oh, uh, Nat this is M.J. one of my, uh, friends. M.J. this is Natasha Romanoff." Nat flickered her eyes over to Peter at the hesitation and gave a smile as she raised an eyebrow. Peter caught it and felt a bit of heat race across his face and he spoke again before she could say or do anything, "Did you want me to introduce you with your actual name or Black Widow instead?"

"Natasha will do. I'm not in my usual uniform anyways. Don't want to get too much attention now do we?"

"Seems a little too late for that," M.J. said as she looked around and saw a few people at nearby tables side-eyeing them, seeming to recognize Natasha.

Easily ignoring the eyes, the red head sat down right next to Peter.

"Nice to meet you, Michelle," she said as the leaned over the table with a hand outstretched towards M.J.

"Nice to meet you too," she replied as she took the hand in greeting.

Peter noticed how M.J. did not seem surprised to hear her name even though he had not used it when he had introduced her. Instead, she gave a satisfied smirk as she leaned across the table's surface with her folded arms as she gazed at Nat.

"So, what are you doing here sitting with us? Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be mean or anything. But I don't think it's your usual protocol to be following around a group of boring kids while they are on a tour here. I know that the usual security here is pretty amazing. So, there's no real need for you to be out here like this in person."

"I like her Peter," Natasha said as she flickered her eyes over to the male before she focused back on M.J. "You're spot on. Cookie for you. Let's just say that there was a bit of a security problem. It's best to be one step ahead and since I'm not needed for anything right now, I volunteered to be the eyes. My talents were needed and lets just leave it at that."

"Really? You can't give a curious girl any more details? What happened to all that crap about adults helping nurture the minds of kids who want to know why the world goes 'round."

The smile that bloomed across Natasha's face then was a bit creepy to Peter and when he looked over to see if M.J. agreed, he that she had almost the same smile.

"Did I tell you how much I already like this young lady, Peter? She's a keeper for sure."

Peter's face turned completely red as he looked down at his lap, refusing to see M.J.'s reaction to those words. He finally dared though when he could not help but be curious and saw her look a bit flustered too. But she was staring at Peter and when he caught her eye, she gave a smile before turning back to Nat.

"How do you know he's not a keeper for me?"

"Touché."

That did nothing to help Peter's face, but he still felt happy when he looked at the two women and saw them smiling to each other and to him as well. He was also glad to see how easy the two were getting along after just knowing each other for a few minutes. Peter could only hope that should he ever properly introduce M.J. to the other side of his life, that she would get along with the other members of the team as well.

**End Chapter Nine**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided to change up the pacing in this story for a few chapters. The hope is for it to slow down a bit, so we can all take a breather. Hope you like it. And as usual, let me know what you thought of the chapter!


	10. Feeding Frenzy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! This has been the longest break in between two chapters. Sorry 'bout that. But finally, it's here! I also made it a bit longer than usual too as an apology. :P
> 
> I have some gushy, mushy, sweet things I want to say at the end. Read if you can or want to.

Peter, M.J. and Natasha continued to chat away at the table as the two teens waited for Ned and Jason to return.

M.J. seemed to progressively warm up to Natasha as the three conversed and the minutes easily ticked away. Occasionally, the two women would try to tease Peter, causing M.J.'s mischievous side to come out in full force.

And yet, she was not too harsh as she would only divulge some of the little things that made Peter hide his face behind his hands a few times. They were harmless memories that she, Peter and Ned had done together throughout the last year and half that the three of them had been hanging out.

Peter could admit that it was nice to reminisce about all the different things the three had gotten up to. M.J. had always been great at telling stories as she always seemed to know when to make up a voice or wave her arms around to exaggerate something. Peter even spotted Nat giving a lazy smile as she rested her head upon one of her hands and listened to the tales.

One memory M.J. recalled, that had Peter accidentally snorting in laughter, was when she spoke about how one time on a cold winter day, the three had wound up huddled in Peter's living room with his aunt.

A reluctant game of truth and dare eventually happened but with May there, the teens tried to at least be a little bit tamer with their truths and dares.

Ned had eventually come up with a supposedly good one and dared Peter to eat an entire pizza pie in five minutes or less.

Obviously, Peter had accepted such a challenge and tried his best. Out of all those there that night however, only M.J. was the one that did not know that Peter had felt confident about tackling the mission because he had his powers on his side. Thanks to his remarkable metabolism he had been prepared to easily consume the whole thing. But even he was eventually outsmarted by the food when he had almost choked after trying to eat a slice in two large bites.

May had not been happy at the dare in the first place and when Peter started flailing, she freaked out. Obviously, she helped her poor nephew out but even after he was able to calm down after the stunt, he got an earful right in front of M.J. and Ned.

Even with that spook, it did not stop M.J. from taking over the dare however, and soon enough, she was the one to end up finishing the rest of the pizza. The other three had been impressed.

"So, you finished it in the remaining time limit?" Natasha asked.

"No, that was long gone. But how could I not give it a try? Besides, one does not simply leave a pizza box with pizza still in it. That would be a crime against the universe."

Natasha gave a laugh at that, "You got me there."

Once M.J. had finished off the large pepperoni, the other three had practically given her a standing ovation. M.J. admitted that even she had been impressed with herself and after there had been a small impromptu celebration of the 'historical moment', she and Peter had wound up being sick and rushing to the bathroom toilet and kitchen sink respectively.

The amazing moment had then ruined and for the next half an hour, the two of them had stayed on the floor of the living room, leaning against the couch as they wallowed in their misery and held their aching stomachs.

Ned watched over them with some minty water on standby, making sure that they did not become sick on May's wooden floors while the woman in question simply laughed herself silly at their unfortunate situations. Even though she had been the "authority figure" at the time, making sure that they understood how stupid she thought they had been, she eventually did one-eighty afterwards and became the worst one out of all four and asked most of the questionable truths and horrible dares.

Sure, she had gotten angry when Peter eventually took the eating too far but once that had been over and done with, she had happily gone back to acting like the youngest one in the room.

.

* * *

.

Natasha wound up laughing out right at the story once it concluded. Even she complimented M.J. on how she was a great story teller. Peter easily spotted how the girl sat up a bit straighter at the compliment and her cheeks grew a bit darker.

Peter was sure that Nat spotted how flustered she was getting and moved focus a bit as she began telling her own tale about how she and Clint tried to have a contest once upon a time to see who could run the farthest in ten minutes.

Deciding to not actually run around New York for the challenge, the two had agreed to doing the bet on a treadmill so that way, they could also have cameras and other various monitors to see who had the better numbers.

Nat had volunteered to go first, of course taking her time to build up the speed to a good pace before she finished the last minute by running at, again, a fairly good pace. Her time wound up being good since she was rather fit and healthy given her profession at the time.

After she finished, Clint eagerly took up his place and apparently being in a hurry to do better than her, he had jammed the buttons on the treadmill to get him sprinting from the get-go.

Things did not go well for him. Obviously.

Peter and M.J. laughed themselves silly as they let Nat finish up her small tale by telling the two teens that Clint had gracelessly slipped off the machine butt first and landed in a crumpled mess of limbs and confusion. He had even stayed there on the floor for a good few minutes as he let the spinning room right itself. And yet, even after he stood up, he had wobbled around like a newborn fawn before he had to sit down again to let everything naturally get better.

"To his credit," Natasha said as she recalled the aftermath, "he was able to hang on for a good few seconds before it all went bad. He's a good sport too even if he can sometimes be an idiot when he hears the word, 'bet' and loses practically all common sense."

"You  _need_  to tell more stories about you and Clint, Nat!" Peter said as he continued to giggle at the image of the archer slipping off the work out machinery. "I mean, I knew that you two had gotten up to some crazy and funny things since you've known each other for forever but you guys don't really talk too much about them."

"Well I guess I personally don't think about them too much. Not sure about Clint since he seems like he would love to talk about all the crazy things we've been up to. But I certainly have a lot in my arsenal. Let's see," she said as she lightly tapped the tables surface with a few fingers, "what about the time that we had to infiltrate a spa. That was unprecedented but was surprisingly a great mission to get a few juicy stories from."

"Wait a minute. You and Clint went undercover in a spa? What the hell for?"

"Totally did. It turned out to be a part of a money laundering scheme and since there was a lull in missions at the time, Clint and I decided to have a bit of fun and took the easy mission."

"Money laundering? Like the mafia?" M.J. asked as she eagerly listened to the new tale.

"Yup. I can admit that I hated more than loved my undercover job as a receptionist there, but I like to think that it was what Clint did that made it all worth it," Natasha teasingly said as she flickered her eyes around the room instead of saying just what it was that Clint had been doing.

"Well? You can't keep up hanging like that, Nat!"

"I bet it was totally something cheesy like being a masseuse."

"Got it in one, M.J. He practically begged to switch with me but of course I won that fight. Neither one of us wanted to be the one to oil up a stranger's back. But I guess he was able to find a silver lining in all of it when he realized that he would actually have to play the part and might even get some female clients once in a while."

"Of course," M.J. said as she rolled her eyes.

"But I thought Clint was married?"

"Yeah, but this was way back in the day. He and Laura weren't even dating let alone married. Anyways, after we finally got 'hired' he started getting all excited to be able to give a massage to any lady that walked in that place. He was bragging about it to me actually and I tried my best to ignore the idiot. I had just about had it with that guy and so when I was working the front desk and he was taking care of walk-ins as opposed to appointments, I was able to strike my justice."

"You know," Peter interrupted with a worried look on his face, "I feel like this story is going down a stereotypical route. And at the same time, I want it to be true and false."

The pure evil grin that blossomed across the assassin's face was not a good sign and all Peter could do was mourn what past Clint had to deal with.

"Not sure I'm following," M.J. said, "what did you do?"

"Well like I said, I was working the front desk. So, when this larger gentleman comes in asking if there are any spots available at such a short notice, I did my good duty as a receptionist and gladly informed him that there was indeed a spot open. Only one spot in fact and that whatever he wanted done, the masseuse would happily see to his requests."

Peter and M.J. snorted out laughter when they both quickly realized where this was headed.

The red head preened at the laughter and sat up straighter as she begun narrating the climax of the fated Day Spa mission.

"The man had come in because he had been doing something about moving from his previous home to another. He lifted a few heavy boxes wrong and had come in complaining about the usual back problems because of that. It was all too perfect and after getting him to sign in, I lead him to the back right away."

Peter and M.J. eagerly leaned forward as they got wrapped up in the story.

"So, I knocked on the Clint's door and told him about the walk-in before he could open the door. The look on his face when he finally opened that door was glorious and I don't think I will even be able to forget for as long as I live," Natasha said as she looked up to the ceiling, obviously recalling the image as a smug look crossed her face.

"Well it couldn't have been all bad," Peter said, "I mean, sure Clint would have preferred a lady but it's not like he would be so opposed to a regular guy, right?"

"Sure," Nat said with a shrug, "he wouldn't care. But he was just expecting so much that when his wish didn't come true, he world practically crumbled all around him. And besides, I learned afterwards that the only reason Clint  _really_ hated that one specific appointment was because the guy had been hairy. And I mean like,  _really_  hairy."

Peter shuddered at the idea of a hairy back on anybody no matter who they were and suddenly felt a little bad for the archer.

"Ugh," he muttered, "let's talk about another story, please. I'm slowly losing my apatite with where that went."

"At least let her wrap it up, Pete! Just, just don't go too gross."

"Sure. Let's see. Well, after all that and the earful I got from Clint complaining, we weren't there much longer. We eventually got our proof of the boss laundering money from a drug ring he had be trying to start. It also turned out that some of the clients who were coming in were just actors in on the laundering and trying to make it look like the spa was racking in a lot of cash. They were getting massage for free and to make it words, can you take a wild guess as to who one of those people might have been?"

M.J. and Peter simply nodded their heads and once again, the young hero felt sympathy for what Clint had to go through on what he had hoped to be a simple mission.

.

* * *

.

Conversation topics easily switched around after that. The three comfortably shifted around once in a while as thoughts came and went. Anything and everything was an option and at one point, they had even talked about the best fish to catch. A small argument came up about Star Wars versus Star Trek and then finally, they started debating the pros and cons of certain weapons, the best uses for each, and even what some of the best hand-to-hand maneuvers could outdo anything else.

It was a bit daunting for Peter to hear all the grisly details the two of them would get into when they really got into it, but he was also surprised to learn a bit about how easy the body could be taken down if someone knew the right moves with or without an object in hand.

Sure, seeing Natasha really get into how it surprisingly easy it can be to take down someone twice her size was intimidating, but at least Peter knew that it was not him that she was talking about. He was smaller than her after all.

M.J. on the other hand, seemed very eager to listen to everything that was being taught to her.

Peter was not surprised to see her be able to put her two sense in wherever appropriate seeing as she knew a little bit of everything. It should have made Peter feel a bit left out when their conversation turned more in depth, thus leaving him out of the loop since he had no idea what different kinds of take downs there were. But instead, it was surprisingly easy for Peter to sit it out to let the two of them get carried away with a passionate conversation.

Able to let his mind drift off then, Peter simply laid his head down on his folded arms and started people watching.

He easily found Erin and Mr. Johnson still sitting with the other teachers down the long table. It seemed that their tour guide had easily wedged her way into the good graces of the instructor's based upon the smiles that most of them held. Mr. Johnson was a given seeing as how the two of them were almost like father and daughter already.

Two of the other teachers seemed to warm up to her at least somewhat. It was just Dr. Greene that did not look as pleased as those around him, but that was nothing new. He was the oldest one there, even surpassing Mr. Johnson in age and it was always difficult to get any emotion out of the man.

Peter knew that all to well after he had tried more than once to see his pearly whites. Almost got detention once too when he might have a bit too aggressive in his attempt. That memory had Peter scrunching his nose into a grimace and moving on to the other people around the cafeteria.

A few rows away sat some workers who seemed to be fiddling with something while they ate and not too far away from them was Flash and his pals.

They were goofing off as usual, but the young hero could tell that they were at least acting a bit more their age and keeping to themselves. He noticed Flash peeking over to the group as well but did nothing to speak up at least. He realized that one of Flash's guys, Chris Price was not with them.

Speak of the devil however, he came up to the other three just then, carrying a tray of junk food and more junk food.

The sight had Peter's stomach speaking up. He patted his torso absentmindedly as he lifted his head and turned around to try and find out what was taking Ned and Jason so long.

He spotted them hanging out by the counter where they would be able to pick up their order. Hopefully their numbed would be called soon, Peter was starving.

"-ter? Hey, Peter."

He swiveled his head back to Natasha, "Huh?"

"Come on kid, I know you teenagers can only think about filling those bottomless pits of stomachs but at least try to be a bit more aware of conversations around you." Nat had a sort of worried look on her face. Peter was confused by that before she spoke again. "I could have totally knocked you out with how unaware you were."

"Yeah, sorry. I'm just wanting food so much right now!" he said as he threw himself across the table to drape his hands over the other side in between the two women and planted his face upon the surface. He peeked his eye out to look at the two of them. "And I totally didn't catch whatever you two gals had been talking about. What's up?"

"At least you're not trying to lie about listening," M.J. said as she poked a finger into his forehead, urging him to back up and sit back down on the seat.

He did to with a puff of laughter escaping right into her face. She waved a hand in front of her face with a raised nostril and even if she had been joking, Peter was suddenly afraid of how bad his breath might have been.

"Anyways, I was just telling M.J. here that I used to do a lot of fun things back in the day. I wasn't sure if I ever told you about Budapest."

That one sentence sure had Peter forgetting all about possible halitosis as he turned his head to look at the red head so fast, he was almost sure he heard his own neck crack. The wince that M.J. gave said that he most certainly had.

"Holy-! Budapest?! Nat, you have no idea how many times I have heard both you and Clint brag about that damn mission using just that one word."

"I take it that means you want to know more?" Nat asked in a casual tone that was betrayed by the grin she wore.

He just nodded like a fool.

"Wait, what? What happened in Budapest?" M.J. asked as she eagerly leaned in, as though she was hearing some juicy gossip. Which might as well have been seeing as it was a past mission for S.H.I.E.L.D. and it was a notorious for being one of the few things even Mr. Stark did not know completely.

"Oh boy. It was a wild ride, let me tell you-" Natasha started to say.

"Lunch is served, my good man," Ned interrupted as he appeared out of nowhere and slid a tray full of fast food bags right in front of Peter's face. He moved around to sit next to Natasha while Jason moved over to sit next to Peter.

"Dude! Thanks so much." Peter quickly hoarded the closest paper bag and stuffed his hands in, searching out a burger to unwrap.

"No problem. You paid for your food anyways," Ned replied as he put Peter's wallet down next to a box fries on the tray, "I just offered to go up there for ya."

"And it was sort of a horrible idea anyways. That line was ridiculous," Jason said as he slid onto the seat and rummaged around in his own paper bag.

"I'm just glad that we can finally eat now. I think my stomach was starting to eat itself."

"Same, dude."

Almost in complete synchronization, all three boys finally unwrapped their first burger and took a large bite out of them. M.J. rolled her eyes as she rested her head on a hand while Natasha just an exasperated sigh.

"Boys and their food," she said when she made eye contact with M.J. who just nodded in agreement.

Once Peter was done inhaling an entire cheeseburger, he turned back to Nat.

"So. You wanna tell us all about Budapest now?"

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Aw, come on Nat. Sorry we interrupted you. But I didn't eat breakfast this morning and you that I can be, uh-"

"A hangry little punk? Yeah, I know."

"Nat! Why're you being embarrassing too."

"It's in the job description."

"What job description?"

"One you don't need to worry your cute little head about."

Ned let out a laugh around a few fries and threw one at Peter's head. "Ha. She called you cute."

Instead of replying, Peter just grabbed the fry and ate it when he made sure that Ned was looking.

"Anyways, back to the story, Nat! Please."

"Yeah, sure. Okay, now let me think for a sec."

But before she could even open her mouth again to start telling the infamous story of Budapest, she was interrupted once again. This time, it was none other than Clint as one second, he was nowhere in sight and then the next, he was at the end of the long table, standing there in between M.J. and Natasha with hands in his pockets and a large smile on his face.

"Oh, hey Clint," Peter said through a mouthful.

"Hey, kid."

"And where've you been, Mr. I'll-keep-track-in-the-vents?" Natasha asked as she looked him up and down.

"Aw, don't be like that," he said as he pushed her over so that he could sit down too.

She did so with an eye roll that had Peter, Jason and M.J. smiling at the sight. Ned had to shift down and when Nat touched his shoulder to ask him to scoot in the first place, his face turned into a tomato that once again, had Peter give a teasing eyebrow lift to his friend. Ned simply stuck his tongue out before he grabbed his drink to distract himself.

"I was just, you know, wandering around," Clint continued.

"Uh huh," Peter muttered as he suspiciously eyed him and Natasha. "Why do I have a  _sense_  that something is going on that you're not telling us?"

"A sense, huh?" Clint asked with a raised eyebrow and smile. "What makes you think there's even anything going on?"

"Because I know you, Clint."

The archer simply continued to smile as he stole a few fries from both Peter's and Ned's trays.

"Anyways, what was this about Budapest that I heard while making my way over here?"

"I was  _trying_ to tell the story about our mission there, but I've been interrupted two times now. And frankly, I don't feel like talking about it anymore." Natasha gave an exaggerated huff that had the four teens smiling at the action.

"Well then I can tell the kiddies all about it!"

"Oh, really?"

"Sure, why not? At least I'll know that if I tell it, it will be eighty percent more fun to listen to."

"Are you calling me a horrible story teller, Clint? I'll have you know that before you brought your ugly ass over here, I was telling a whole bunch of interesting things, right guys?"

"Heck yeah." Peter said in between bites of his second cheeseburger.

"Well now that I'm here, you'll get to hear how a  _good_ storyteller gives it."

"Sure, you will," Natasha said as she rolled her eyes.

And just before he even had the chance to figure out the best place to begin his story, Natasha's phone began ringing. He glared at her as through it was her fault and all she did in reply was to flick her middle finger to him before she quickly moved away as she cupped the bottom of the phone.

Peter watched her make her way over to buffet tables and went behind them to lean against the wall. He turned back to the table to see Clint taking her place and trying to snag another fry from his tray.

With his powers on his side, he easily grinned the older man's hand with a grin.

"No, I don't think so."

"Aw come on Pete, I haven't eaten in a while! You won't let your best pal die of hunger, will you?"

Ned and Jason interrupted before he could say anything, and they eagerly offered their own food to the hero. Clint looked surprised by their actions, though he did look happy with what the two of them were offering him. Peter was surprised to see him turn them down.

"It's alright. That's your lunch and there's no way that I would try to beg from my fans."

It seemed like those were the right words when the two teens showed off eyes shimmering with admiration.

"It's okay, mister Hawkeye, sir," Jason said, "you can take a few fries if you want. It's not a big deal."

When it looked like the archer was about to cave and take up the offer, Natasha appeared out of nowhere and grabbed ahold of his bicep.

"Whoa, Nat!" Clint exclaimed as he was quickly pulled from the bench seating.

The action startled more than just him as Peter felt a tingle at the back of his neck. The feeling was not coming from Nat per se, but the way that she came to take Clint away started making him feel anxious.

Peter, M.J., Ned, and Jason continued to sit there in stunned silence, and watched the assassin quickly drag Clint all the way back to where she had been before. The phone was back at her ear, but she was not also looking directly at Clint as though she was conversing with both him and the person on the line.

She looked as serious as could be and Clint's last remaining fun soon melted away too as he continued to stand near her. He mouthed a few words that, frustratingly enough, Peter could not hear due to their distance and the general noise level in the food court.

It was certainly a surprising change of pace from their previous chill mood but now that he was watching the anxious look on Clint's face and the way Natasha was moving her arm around that was not holding the phone, that feeling he was having was starting to grow. Peter hated it already and just wanted it to go away.

Maybe it was just the sugar intake from his food or the sight of them moving around in the quiet corner of the room, but it was probably wishful thinking on Peter's part. He was starting to lose his appetite.

Surely it was not as serious as he was making it out to be, but he just could not stop his whirlwind thoughts and when he noticed that Natasha saw him looking their way, she turned around a bit so that he could not even try to read her mouth. And he certainly could not hear them in this damned loud place.

Why now. Why him. It just seemed like the day was not in Peter's favor at all.

Sure, he got to spend a day at one of the places he loved to be at and yes, he got to see a few of his heroes. But he also got hounded by Flash. He got pushed around and wound up hurting himself. He got a lecture from Mr. Johnson and Bucky.

He has had to constantly worry about who might show up to do something and Peter even had to constantly be aware of where every single person was at every second.

And was it this loud a minute ago? Peter did not think so.

It felt like it had been alright not too long ago. Where was that crashing coming from? Did someone drop a plate?

There was a girl just behind Ned, crunching so loud on some dumb carrots.

There was a group of idiots nearby who were bragging about something or other. A bellow of a laugh came from one of them and it was just so  _annoying._

Seriously, does no one know how to eat with their mouth open?

A shriek that was practically in his ear had Peter twisting around to see two women hugging in the middle of an aisle, all smiles on their faces but their voices were too high.

His eyes flickered over to his left when he spotted some kid trip over his own feet and make a sharp squeak against the floor. Peter flinched at the sound agave and gave a frown at his back and he continued to walk away.

All these people were acting like nothing was wrong, but could they not see how loud it was in here?

Weren't they annoyed?

Why were they acting that way?

Why were they not as irritated as him?

Why were they acting like nothing was wrong?

They were clearly two heroes over there talking in secret. Everyone needs to be quiet, damn it or else Peter cannot their what was going on and try to help them out like he supposed to do!

A warm palm rested atop his own hand.

Peter jumped at the feeling and he looked up right into the deep brown eyes of Ned. He was frowning and as Peter intently watched him move his mouth, he realized that Ned was calling his name.

"Peter." It was just his name. Only his name but with that one word in that familiar voice, Peter started relaxing.

A magical spell suddenly muffled Peter's ears and all he could do was stare at Ned in amazement.

He did not realize until then that he had been hunching over himself. His hands were balled into tight fists and his breathing was even a bit lighter than he was used to. The warmth of Ned's hand did not let up and Peter was not sure if he could even express how grateful he felt to have that sensation helping him out.

Peter made sure to take in a breath first. He then unclenched his hands and let his palms fell the cool table beneath him. His spine started to straighten out and when he looked back up to Ned, he noticed that he was wearing a hesitant smile, but it was genuine all the same.

"You alright?"

Peter just gave a jerky nod.

"Is it the sound?"

Another nod.

Ned just stood up and made his way around the table to stand behind Peter. He pressed his fingers into Peter's shoulders before he grabbed them and tried to help Peter stand up from the bench.

Peter easily followed the movements and once he was on his own two feet, he remembered that M.J. and Jason were there as well.

He looked up to see them both hold a worried look in their face alongside the obvious questions that they wanted to ask but had not said aloud. Yet. He flushed and looked away from them and instead focused on Ned as he continued to hold onto a shoulder and made him start walking.

When he realized that he was being directed out of the cafeteria, he finally started resisting and stopped walking all together. Ned noticed and instead turned around, easily stopping.

"C'mon, Peter? Don't you want to get outta here?"

No not really, Peter thought to himself. Sure, the noise was a bit much but after he was pulled out of his funk, he felt better already. Sure, not a whole lot but he could handle the noise just like he could handle the subway.

It was always a horrible feeling whenever Peter got one of his sensory episodes but at least they had been somewhat controlled in the last few months. He had just already been a bit high strung since this morning with the field trip and all the stress that came with it and dealing with Flash and the sudden appearances of the team. So, this one sort of made sense.

Still, knowing that it was sort of a long time coming did not make Peter tolerate it any more or enjoy when one would happen to him.

This was one of those times that he just hatted being Spider-man and what came with the powers.

He could not do too well with super-hot, sour or spicy things, he did not take boiling hot showers anymore, and he certainly could not stand being in loud places for too long.

That is, unless he had his usual distractions like music to listen to or better yet, Ned. His very own hero.

"Are you sure you're o-"

"Yes!" Peter almost shouted as he turned to glare at Jason. The dark-haired teen flinched back at the word, almost bumping into M.J.

The young hero deflated immediately. "Sorry, Jason. I don't like yelling at people I like, but sometimes I'm just cranky like a kid. It's the noise, I'm sure you noticed." Peter pointed at his ear. "Sometimes it's just a little too me for me."

The joke did not seem to list their spirits too much but at least Peter was happy to notice that Jason was not taking the shout so personally.

"It's alright Peter. I know that we all have our things. If it'll make you feel any better, I can't deal with super small spaces well. Had a bad experience with a floatie in a public pool as a kid and I now I just clam up in things that only a single person can fit into. Actually, now that I think about it, I also don't do very hot in pools either. Huh."

That had Peter cracking a real smile. "Still, sorry again. They don't usually happen so suddenly, but they do tend to stop soon enough."

Jason just gave his own smile in return with a light shrug.

"Well, if you think you're doing alright now, what do you want to do," M.J. asked. She was clearly trying to act like normal but her twitchy fingers and the way she was slowly swinging her arms told Peter that she was concerned as well. That made him feel happy to have another great friend like Ned.

Peter did not have to think too hard to answer her question.

Sure, it would have been nice to escape into the hall just outside the cafeteria even if just for a minute to really calm his nerves all the way, but he seriously just wanted to stop being the center of attention between the four of them. And besides that, he was still super hungry. He had only gotten to eat his McDonald's meal and that is never enough for him to eat in one sitting. Considering what he just went through, Peter would also say that he was even hungrier now.

"No, let's get something else to eat. I'm still hungry."

"Heck yeah. I can still eat," Ned easily said as he squeezed Peter's arm one last time before moving away to give Peter his space back.

"What do you guys want? I'm thinking some tacos sound great."

"Oh yeah! I am so down for some comfort burritos. Those things give me life."

"Sure, I can go for a burrito or two."

With nods all around and the unanimous vote decided, the four teens headed over to the Taco Bell line.

All three of them wanted to be right by Peter's shoulder and while it was nice to have great friends who wanted to make sure he was alright, it was a bit weird and a bit annoying. The crowding around part was not a big deal but it was just the fact that their impromptu formation did nothing to muffle the sounds around them.

Sure, now that he was not freaking out, he could tolerate it again, but it was not like before anymore. It always happened to him like that but whenever he had an attack like that in any place, he would forever be aware of just how loud a place really was and would always find the place to be just slightly louder than usual.

It looked like if Peter had to eat lunch here in the tower again, he would not be able to enter this specific food court again. Oh well.

The group of friends continued to the Taco Bell line but just before they neared however, they were interrupted. That is, Peter was specifically interrupted when out of nowhere, Flash stood before him. The flood of emotions that filled Peter were nothing but unpleasant.

First he had to deal with all that mess and now this?

Peter was ready to take whatever Flash would spew his way, but he was surprised to instead meet Ned's back. Actually, when he tried to look over his best friend's shoulder to see Flash, he was blocked yet again by M.J. and Jason. All three of them were stopping Flash from getting close to him.

Though they could do nothing against his dumb mouth.

"The hell are you losers doing? Playing the three musketeers and trying to protect baby Penis Parker?"

"Yes." Ned said in what Peter thought was the most confident tone he had even spoken.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes." That time it was M.J.

"How about you just forget whatever it was that you were going to say and just leave, Flash," Jason said as he folded his arms tightly across his chest. M.J. and Ned were quick to follow his actions.

"Who are you again? Oh yeah, I don't care. I thought it was just Penis and Dead. But now you've both went and got a girlfriend."

M.J. and Jason's shoulders tensed even more, and Peter could just imagine the deep frowns on their faces.

"I said leave, Flash," M.J. demanded.

He gave his own frown as he folded his arms. "Make me."

**End Chapter Ten**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TL;DR at bottom
> 
> I know that there hasn't been an update to this story (or any of my stories really) for months now. I said this last chapter too that life just happens sometimes, and I know that you guys are understanding about that.
> 
> But I also want to talk about this because I HAVE been gone for a while. Seeing numbers on this story is amazing. Pure and simple. Sometimes, it can be hard to put into perspective just how many of you are actually reading this. The views and comments on here are huge and even if half of those comments are mine but all of those from you guys are nothing but praise and kind words.
> 
> You know that saying about how we should always try to be kind to everyone everyday because you don't know what they are going through, and you just might make their day? Yeah, today, that stranger you helped was me.
> 
> Anyways, on a lighter note, I just want to thank you, dear reader, again for clicking. For clicking on this story and reading chapter one. For enjoying that enough to click onto the next chapter and the one after that. For leaving a comment or a kudo or a bookmark and for just trying to say to me, "Hey, I like this thing your making. In fact, I like it so damn much that I want to see more." I still don't know why this story blew up like it did but it just feels to nice to find people who are enjoying this and who love this fandom as much as me. You guys are Just. So. Damn. Nice.
> 
> TL;DR: I want to thank you guys for reading this story. From the bottom of my heart.


	11. Teenage Troubles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so, I just want to take this time to say that with the way this chapter turned out, the story is going in a bit of a different direction than what we all thought. Don't worry, it's still a fieldtrip story and the gang will see more things, but it's not really a linear reason like going to exhibits then museums then lunch and then another museum. It's more like the rest of the trip being an effect of this chapter…eh, you'll get what I mean and learn why soon enough.
> 
> Anyways, mark it down, folks! Chapter Eleven is the historical moment where it finally happens. That's right, the one character you've all be asking about finally enters the stage!

"Really? You're gonna go there?" M.J. asked in a tone of disbelief. Her folded arms lost some tension as she continued to stand in front of Flash. Peter was impressed. It was like she was just looking down at an annoying bug instead of an annoying person.

"And what's that supposed to mean," Flash demanded. He spared a look to Ned, Jason, and Peter before he chose to ignore them in favor of the one right in front of him.

"It means that you're outnumbered, and I can just do this," she said as she easily walked around him and began to head over to the food line.

Flash flushed and fumbled with his words as he tried to react. He did not reach out to M.J. but he did try to move to stand in front of her again, blocking her and stopping her from taking another step.

"You better stop, Flash. I'll force you to if you don't do it on your own terms."

He gave a deeper frown at those words but as he opened his dumb mouth to say something else, Peter easily jumped in.

"Seriously, dude. Just stop. She already said that you're outnumbered."

Flash was stupid to think he could just walk up to the four of them in the middle of a large, crowded food court and expect anything different. Peter was certainly not going to get physical and he knew that Ned preferred to be a pacifist. M.J. was a bit of a wild card however and Peter was sad to admit that he did not know much about Jason and how he could act in such a situation.

Instead, he just let one of his arms loosely spread out in between M.J. and Flash to stop them from moving closer to one another.

By some stroke of luck, he finally backed down. It was more like he backed away while still looking angry and sort of threatening but that was a typical Flash characteristic at this point. So, when he at least moved away enough to not be sharing the same air as M.J. and Peter, the young hero was quickly able to nudge her elbow.

That got her to finally stop glaring and to start moving again.

She gave a loud huff that Peter was sure Flash heard, but she still moved on and away from the stupid confrontation.

Peter even heard Ned's small sigh of relief from behind him. He turned slightly to see him and Jason keeping up and further behind them, Peter saw Flash still looking in their direction.

He still had his usual angry look about him but when Peter first turned and Flash had not noticed him outright staring, he did not look completely crazy. But then he did catch Peter's eye and he gave another deep frown. His so-called friends made their way up to him then and with Flash distracted by whatever they were saying, Peter tried his best to forget all about the idiotic confrontation and instead let his stomach and nose lead him to the glorious smell of fast food.

.

* * *

.

"God, I hate him." M.J. stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jeans as they finally got in line for Taco Bell.

"Yeah," Ned mumbled.

"Just ignore him like usual," Peter said, "and he'll get bored like he always does."

"The little ass will get a taste of his own medicine one of these days. And I'll be the doctor force feeding it to him sooner rather than later if no one else does."

Peter and Ned just traded a look while keeping quiet. There was no stopping M.J. once she was on one of her roles. Hopefully she would be able to cool down while their small group was away from him for the rest of the lunch break. And at least after, it would also mean that M.J. would be away from Flash since she was in a different group.

By the time they ordered and got their food, she calmed down a bit and Peter and Ned both felt relieved to see the chill girl they knew. M.J. sure was protective of the two of them. Peter always felt happy and even a bit nervous whenever she would stand up for them and herself no matter who it was.

It was nice to have another close friend act like for him and sometimes he would also feel fluttery in his stomach. And whenever Peter would think too much about why he liked how cool M.J. was, he would feel anxious and try to shake off the feeling.

Noting that their previous table had been taken up by employees, the foursome had to make their way around a bit before finally sitting down closer to the entrance to the food court.

Surprisingly, it helped Peter out a bit since the doors were slightly open and were filtering out some of the buzzing noise. He could focus a bit of his attention to the silence outside the room and it did wonders to help him continue to keep calm.

He was the first to dig into his second lunch meal with Ned a close second. Jason gave a laugh at their actions before he too joined in while M.J. just ate the cinnamon twists she ordered.

Most of the table consisted of Peter's food and while Ned looked both envious and concerned, he still acted like it was the usual.

M.J. barely batted an eye at the amount and rate that Peter was wolfing down his tacos and burritos.

Jason was the most concerned seeing as he was a usual at their table and had no idea that the amount he saw before Peter was a typical everyday thing.

"Are, are you alright there, Peter?" Jason finally asked after eating only some of what he ordered.

"Hmm?" came the muffled response.

"Oh yeah, he's fine," Ned replied for Peter.

"You're sure? That's so much food. He bound to get sick or fall into a food coma."

"Yeah, I'm sure," he said with a laugh. "Pete's just a black hole. He eats like this all the time. It can take some getting used to but at this point, I just let him be when he's eating."

Ned went back to his own meal and eventually, Jason followed.

The four of them continued to make small talk as they ate their fill, and after a while, one by one, they were done eating until it was just Peter left. He continued to happily chow down on his fake cheesy nachos and drank his fifth refill of water.

M.J. had pulled out her book again and let the three boys keep talking to fill the silence. It was more like just Ned and Jason though.

"I just don't know where you're putting it all, Pete," Jason said with a smile and a shake of his head. He missed the amused look that passed between the best friends.

Peter shrugged, "Who knows. I'm just always hungry and eat when I can. Guess I'm just still growing."

"Yeah well if you're eating this much because you're growing, you'll probably be the tallest person in the world."

They each gave a chuckle at that. Peter tried to imagine himself as the tallest person in the world and thought it would be bad for his secret identity. Since if he really was that tall, it would just be too obvious to connect the dots to the tall hero and the tall Peter Parker.

"Well, I think I'd rather be the tallest person than the shortest person. You can reach anything!" Ned said aloud as he rested his head in his hands.

"Or be the best at sports," Jason pointed out.

"Ew, no. I'd rather be shortest person," M.J. said.

"What? Who wants to be short? You're always picked on, clothes can be too long, and you couldn't reach anything."

"Well you're just afraid of heights in general so of course you'd say that. But if you're small, you can fit in anything. Small clothes are a perfect fit and anything bigger would just be comfy. Plus, it's called 'fun size' for a reason."

Peter suddenly had the thought of M.J. being bundled up in one of his sweaters. They were about the same size, but he still liked the idea of her wearing something of his. He tried to shake his head as though he could physically get the thoughts to leave.

She and Ned noticed the movement but said nothing. Though Peter did spot Ned give him a grin as though he knew what Peter had been thinking about. He just glared at his friend until he looked away, dropping it.

"Yeah I guess I can see your point," Jason said with a nod. "But I still think that I would like to be taller than shorter."

M.J. gave a sort of accepting shrug at his answer before she turner to Peter. "What about you?"

"Short sounds cool. You can fit in smaller spaces. Ya know, take up less space and everything would just be cool and big," he said as he let his thoughts drift to the benefits of being a small spider-man. Though he was already quite slim and agile. It might not be that much of a difference compared to now, but Peter could easily picture how much easier his crime righting could be.

He looked over to Ned to see him subtly nodding his head as though he has just read Peter's mind.

It seemed that the cogs were turning in Ned's imaginative head at how much a of benefit it would be to Peter if he were smaller.

Peter just smiled and let the other let his imagination run wild with all the fun things. He was sure that by the end of the day, he would be able to come up with a new idea that would help Peter be Spider-man that would relate to height and size.

Instead, he turned to focus on M.J. and Jason who has started up a different conversation.

"So, what have you seen in here so far?" The dark-haired teen asked.

"Eh, some cool things but not really what I've been looking forward to yet. Our group did get to see the multi-floor museum. Have you guys been there yet?"

"Yeah but only the two bottom floors. Do you remember which ones, Peter?"

"Uh, I think it was twenty-seven and twenty-eight?"

"Yup. That's the one I'm talking about. So, you guys have been there already. I mean, it makes sense that we would be seeing the same things."

"Sure, but since we're all going in different orders, I'm sure you've been somewhere we haven't."

"We did get to see a workshop area. I think that was on floor thirty-four. That one you've been to yet?"

Peter and Jason traded a look, and both gave a small frown in thought. He started shaking his head in a negative almost at the same time as the other.

"No, I don't think so," he said as he turned back to M.J.

"That's been the most interesting thing I've seen so far."

"Well come on then. Don't leave us hanging. What's it all about?"

"And ruin the fun? Why would I do that?"

"Oh c'mon, M.J. I told you all about what we've been to."

"I never asked you to. All I ever asked about was how your guys side had been doing. You're the one who likes to tell everyone about your day, Pete." She gave a teasing look as she spoke. Peter thought the easy smile she gave look pretty.

"Wha-. But-. Oh-!" Peter fumbled as he tried to think of a quick comeback before he just slumped in his seat and leaned to rest his head against a hand and ate with the other. He finished off the last of his large meal by scraping that last of the fake cheese with the few remaining nacho chips.

"You want come chips with that cheese?" M.J. asked as she watched him eat. The side of her nose lifted slightly.

"Nah I'm good. Want some?" he asked as he pushed the small plastic cup of orange goo across the table.

She silently pushed it back.

That made the three guys laugh while M.J. just went back to trying to read her book. Peter noticed that it wasn't working as well as she had clearly been hoping for when he watcher her eyes move across at the same height more than once.

Trying to let had get a few minutes in before the lunch break would be over, Peter let her be and instead just talked with Ned and Jason about whatever came to them.

.

* * *

.

It was a good few minutes as the three teens just compared canon and their head canons about Star Wars, talked about their favorite stories from D&D campaign, and what the next Lego video game might be. It was nerd heaven for the three of them and the longer he chatted with Jason, Peter felt bad that he had never really tried to interact with him more than just a passing chat in the school hallways.

But it was the past and now Peter was just happy to have gained another friend to his growing group. Sure, it was now only a grand total of three people, but it was a huge increase from when he first began high school with only Ned.

He fit right in with the three of them. He was almost as calm as M.J., as passionate as Ned and Peter could even tell that he was quick witted like himself.

As the different topics easily shifted all over the place, they took their time sitting at the table just chatting. Peter did eternally have to say that he was still hungry and wanted to go grab something else to tide him over until dinner. Jason gave an utterly gob smacked look at the words while the other two acted like it was nothing new – which was absolutely true.

Peter offered to go grab something by himself so that they could keep their seats.

When he got back, he had two different bags of fried chicken and sushi rolls. Balanced on his arms were a plastic container holding a regular garden salad and large jug of water.

It almost looked like he might topple over with how much he was carrying. But Peter was easily able to make his way over and settle everything down without even dropping a napkin. Again, he got some funny looks from people around them who watched him slowly set everything down, but he was used to it by now.

This was certainly not the first time that Peter had gotten heaping amounts of food in public.

It must have been even more impressive for the small audience and Jason to see everything disappear into Peter's stomach almost as soon as he sat down.

"I'm just going to say it again 'cause I just don't get it. Where the heck does it all go?" Jason desperately asked Peter. When he just shrugged with a smile, Jason turned to Ned as though expecting to him have the answer. Ned gave his own shrug.

"Don't look at me. He's been like this since the start of high school. He's just one of the lucky ones I guess and has a great metabolism."

Peter pretended to cough to hide his laugh. Ned was technically telling the truth since Peter did indeed have a great metabolism. It was just not because he was a teen going through puberty and growth spurts.

"Well whatever is going on with you, Peter, you're one lucky dude."

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, it's great being able to eat a lot, don't get me wrong, I love eating like everyone else, but it can get expensive real quick. That's why I just eat so much junk and fast food."

"That does suck. Guess there's always a good and bad thing everything, huh."

"Guess so."

"Hey," M.J. interrupted as she looked down at her phone, "looks like it almost time for my group to head out."

Peter checked the time as well and noticed that it was the same for his group. "Yeah, guess it's the same for us."

Ned gave a sad frown, "Man, already? Time always flies when you're actually enjoying yourself."

"What are you talking about, Ned? The fun is just beginning. I thought you were pumped to see so much of S.I.?"

"Oh, right!" He said with a sudden smile. Ned happily jumped up form the bench first, finally urging the rest of them to get up as well.

Once they all threw out their trash, the group of friends took their time walking to the pillar that Erin had told them to meet up at. It was not too far from where they had been sitting so from where they were, Peter could already spot a few of their classmates hanging around there. And that also happened to include one Flash Thompson who was leaning against the tall, white pillar.

M.J. let out a tired kind of groan at the sight and Peter could not agree more even if he tried.

It seemed that at the same time that the two of them noticed Flash, he spotted them as well. With a tilt of his head, he got up and began make his way over with his lacky's falling in behind him. He was swaggering in a kind of obnoxious way as his large arm strides made his shoulders look larger than they really were.

"Not again," M.J. mumbled as she rolled her head backwards and let out a sigh through her nose.

Peter could not agree more. Why couldn't the idiot just leave them alone? It would just be easy for all involved.

But clearly, that was just too much to ask for, Peter thought to himself. At least if it escalated (like it was almost certain to) Flash would be the one at the center of it. He really was stupid to try and act so tough in such a high-profile place like Stark Industries where he was being constantly watched from wither the employees in the room of the cameras that were in every nook and cranny of the tower.

M.J. stopped walking and the three of them followed her actions, letting Flash be the one to make his way up to them with his own friends by his side.

It practically looked like a western standoff with how both groups were standing shoulder to shoulder.

At least they were off the to the side of the room near the large entrance doors to the food court and sort of away from everyone else. That way at least they could book it if Flash really did try something and not have to deal with the confrontation.

They were already getting some worrying looks and some glares from employees and passersbys. Peter could not blame them. Who would like the look of a group of people, let alone teenagers, who were staring each other down with frowns and folded arms?

It practically screamed enemies or at least people who were clearly not on friendly terms.

None of them spoke but the longer that they all stood there, the more Peter was feeling his senses go off. It was not like any outright danger, but it was like the tension was getting thicker.

Then Flash did finally say something.

"Welcome back to the tour, Penis. Looks like you won't be able to have your girlfriend be your bodyguard for the next few hours. Who knows what could happen then, ya know?" He gave a grin to Peter at those words as he folded arms and tilted his head to the side a bit.

Peter thought he looked dumb but did not say anything. He just glared while he could practically  _see_ the anger radiating off M.J. next to him.

"You seriously want to do this, Flash?" M.J. demanded as she tightly crossed her arms across her chest as well. "Because if you wanna go, we can go."

A dry laugh escaped Flash. He lifted an eyebrow and did the cliché look as he eyes M.J. up and down as though he were judging if she was even worth a fight. "Sure, why not. Let's see what you can do. I mean, do you seriously think that you're going to do anything to me with all these people around?"

"Well then what the hell did you think you were going to do to us? You're in the same position, genius," Ned said.

"Please, I just wanted to have a nice, friendly chat with Parker here, that's all. It's not like I was going to rough him up."

"Cut the crap, Flash. There's nothing friendly about you and even if Peter was going to suffer through listening to your voice, it's not like we would leave him alone with you."

"Yeah and in case you forgot, genius, Jason and I are still in the same tour group as you. And besides, you're one to talk. You're the one out numbered here seeing as they don't even want to deal with you either," M.J. said.

That one got a reaction out of Flash. Though it was only a twitch of an eye and his face gaining just the smallest hint of pink.

"Shut your mouth, Leeds!" Flash finally took the few steps needed to be right in front of them. He reached out to the other but was stopped before he could even brush against a hair on Ned's head.

Peter had quickly felt the anger growing in him at the sight of how aggressive Flash had been towards his friends ever since the day started. It never let up and now, it was the boiling point.

Faster than should have been for a regular teenager, Peter had snapped his hand upward, catching Flash by the wrist as he had arched his hand downward towards Ned.

"Don't you dare touch him."

Peter was surprised by the tone of his voice and clearly so was Flash as he jerked backwards but did not get far due to his trapped hand.

Sean, Christopher, and Damion had moved forward from behind Flash after seeing the predicament of him but did nothing. They just tried to glare at Peter and his friends while sharing uncertain looks with each other.

Flash tried pulling his hand out of Peter's grip but the few times he tried to jerk his hand away, he did not get far. A hint of worry finally flew across his face as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. When it seemed that he understood that his wrist was not going anywhere anytime soon with the grip Peter had, he instead tried to go for attacking verbally, as he always tended to do.

"You better let go of me, Parker!"

"Not until you swear to leave us alone."

"I don't have to listen to a nobody like you. Let go!"

While Peter would have loved nothing more than to continue to hold onto Flash's wrist, he did eventually let go of the other male. He certainly did not want to make the larger scene than there were already probably making and the longer that the four of them crowded around Flash, the more obvious it would look that there was some type of altercation going on.

Peter could already spot a few of the closer people already eyeing them up while a few were standing up as though to interrupt or go get someone.

They were a group of kids after all and they were in one of the most prestigious places in all of New York city. They most likely assumed to all be just a bunch of regular teens (which they were) and assumed that they were up to no good (which only half technically were).

Feeling the shame begin to well up in him from how they all must have looked, Peter backed up a few steps, bringing out his arms a bit to brush against M.J. and Ned's hands as a sort of signal that they should probably move along. Peter wanted to get out of there now before anything else could be done.

But of course, Flash had to have the last laugh.

As soon as Peter's grip slacked, he had forcefully pulled his wrist away to protect it against his chest and cover it up with his other hand. He was acting like it had been painful to be in Peter's grasp, which was ridiculous.

But as much as the young hero would have loved to know for sure that he did no such thing, he slowly began to doubt himself when he saw just how genuine Flash appeared to be as he cradled his wrist and looked at Peter with a look he had never seen before.

It came and went soon enough and instead, the usual, angry Flash took its place.

"What is  _wrong_  with you, Parker?"

"What's wrong with  _me_? What's wrong with  _you_!"

The two of them were suddenly in each other's faces. It was nothing buy ugly frowns and grimaces.

A vice like grip found its way around Peter's upper arm and when he turned to look, he saw M.J. who quickly pulled Peter back and away.

"You better just stop it and walk away," she interrupted as she stared straight into Flash's eyes. "You came rushing up and he just retaliated. If you think that he actually hurt you, you are even worse than I thought." That time, M.J. fully grabbed Peter's arm and shoved him further back behind her to where Ned and Jason were standing.

Flash naturally shifted his growing frown to her as he lost sight of Peter. The glare was still there and the longer it stayed, Peter started to feel even more uneasy when his spider sense kept going haywire.

"Back of, Jones. Nobody asked you for your opinion."

"Well I didn't ask if you wanted it anyways. I'll say whatever the hell I want, thank you very much."

"So now you're growing a backbone too? What is  _wrong_ with you freaks? It used to be better when the quiet people knew when to keep to themselves and just leave things alone."

"Well I'm not going to 'leave it alone' when I see you acting like you're the best goddamn thing in the world when you're clearly  _not_. Grow up would you, Flash?"

Flash's frown grew utter rage as his lip lifted to show off teeth and his eyes widened a bit. The longer M.J. continued to speak and it shifted more and more until Peter thought he might burst a blood vessel. He eventually took a short step towards her and Peter reached out for her forearm, hoping to drag her back and away from the other teen.

He was able to brush his fingers against her before she moved out of the way and took a step too. It seemed that when he made his move to get in her face, she saw it and made the move first, getting into his space as well.

M.J. and Flash were almost nose to nose now, they were so close. A single pin drop or a wrong twitch of muscle could be the trigger to finally have the two go at it. It was beyond tense and Peter did not even have to look around to know that they were making a full-on scene now.

And then suddenly, the rescue began approaching.

At least, it was rescue in Peter's opinion.

Erin's bright red hair and Mr. Johnson's stark white hair were the first things he spotted from the two people as they made their way over, through the small crowd that had formed around them by then. Further behind the two of them, Peter could even see the other teachers trailing after and classmates shifting around at the back of the crowd trying to a get a look at what was going on.

When he looked around once more, Peter noticed that there were also a lot more people than he had previously thought.

It was quite uncomfortable being ogled like they currently were, but Peter could not blame any of the employees. Though it did nothing to help the small amount of shame that was blooming within his chest at all the looks. The small scuffle that they were having was on their turf so of course they would be curious about the drama of some teenagers going on right in front of them and in front of all the other people wearing black badges.

They were just other regular tourists and people. And here Peter was in the middle of a fight that was probably going to be a stain on Stark Industries reputation.

"Grow up? I could say the same to you," Flash responded. He clearly had not spotted the two adults heading over but Peter was not even sure if he would try to do anything to help his own case anyways. He looked furious now and there was clearly no going back for him since the crowd watching were seeing his true colors.

Even his so-called friends were already backing up, saving their own skin as they became more aware of the audience. Sure, they were not as bad as Flash, but Peter was still glad to see the crowd was not letting the three of them try to blend into the background, instead forcing them to clearly be seen as part of the problem.

"Well maybe she wouldn't have to if you would just leave us alone. I mean seriously Flash, just stop it. You came walking up to us and we don't want to be a part of whatever it is that your trying to do." Ned interjected as he placed a hand on M.J.'s shoulder as though to make sure she would not leap forward again to stand in Flash's face.

"Ya know something Leeds? I really hate it when you always try to talk to me when I wasn't speaking to you."

Ned's own frown did not let up, but Peter saw how the words still affected him as a sort of humiliating flush grew upon his face and he looked down. M.J. jerked once more and finally broke free after those words.

It was then Peter's turn as he quickly tried to stop her from doing something. Sure, Peter would have liked to see her deck Flash, but he knew she would probably get in trouble since it would be the first swing. He was able to grab ahold of M.J.'s hand and she stopped. It more like it was from the startling contact than actually being restrained as he felt her fingers twitch in his palm. She did nothing to back up, but Peter was fine with that as long as she did not go fists swinging.

And then finally,  _finally_ , Erin was there like knight in shining armor.

"Mr. Thompson. Ms. Jones.  _What in the world_  going on here?" she demanded.

Sure, she sounded a clam even if she was stressing some of those words, but Peter still had to give her credit for not being biased right out of the gate. She did not glare at either one or let her eyes linger on one of them longer than the other.

Erin clearly did not like Flash already considering how she had talked about the teen to Peter and Pepper back in the Trinkets Hall. It was just such a nice thing to see an authority figure for once on his side. Or at least just not on Flash's side.

Mr. Johnson then made his way up to her side and eyes flickered this way and that, taking in the whole scene while letting his own frown fall upon his face as he realized that the people at the center of this whole thing were his very own students.

Erin too took in the sight before looking all around at the people gathered before she finally met eyes with Peter.

Not knowing what to do, he just gave a weak shrug of his shoulders and a grimace as he looked down. He knew that it looked bad with a whole bunch of teenagers trying make a scene in the food court of Stark Industries. The name and reputation were surely turned now, and Peter just did not know what to do.

"Parker here tried to break my arm while this chick here is defending the guy. She's clearly trying to attack me," Flash quickly said. He was frowning at everyone and everything as he continued to hold his wrist.

"I see. And you, Ms. Jones? What is your side of the story?"

"What?! No, you shouldn't be listening to her. She's obviously going to lie. She just a crazy chick and clearly wants to hurt me. Just ask anyone here, they saw her coming for me when I didn't move a muscle!"

"Mr. Thompson, I wasn't talking to you. Please just let me do my job."

Even as Erin tried to keep everything professional while surrounded by the crowd, Peter could tell that she was slowly losing control of the situation too when Peter heard some whisperings of agreement from some people around. This was not her area of expertise. She was scientist who worked in a lab – not a crowd controller.

"Please, settle down everyone and back up just a bit. I can take care of this and I apologize on behalf of Stark industries," she began, "I along with the teacher of these students can handle this. Please try to go back to your business."

Some thankfully listened to her, finally moving away from the circle and going back to their own tables or just outright leaving the food court. However, some still stayed albeit from a bit of a farther distance.

"And as I was saying, Mr. Thompson, I would like to hear everything from everyone before I go making any judgements."

"Well I'm just telling you the truth. You can ask those liars if you really want but it really doesn't matter what they have to say."

"You are such a liar!" M.J. practically shouted as she fisted her shaking hands. "Dammit Flash, I've had it with you. You're an egotistical bully, a pathological liar, and frankly, I don't know if you'll ever be able to grow up. I'm sick of dealing with all the shit you put people like me and my friends through and if I am the only one around here who has the guts to stand up to you and put you down, then you can just go ahead and call me whatever you want but it won't stop me from kicking your ass."

"Now please wait just a moment, Ms. Jones, surely we don't need to do that-" Mr. Johnson tried to say before Flash interrupted him as though he had not heard a single word.

"Kick my ass? How about you just shut the hell up, Jones. You can't do anything to me, and I  _know_ that you won't, you crazy bi-"

The next thing that Peter was fully aware of was loud shout from M.J. followed by a scream from Flash and yells of shock from some of the bystanders. It all happened so fast and after instinct melted away, Peter realized that he was trying to pull M.J. off from atop Flash with help from Ned.

She easily got with help from the two boys cradling her elbows, getting her to stand on her own after just a few seconds of making sure she would not try to go on the offence again.

Meanwhile, Flash rolled over onto his side as he tried to bend into a fetal position, cupping his nose as he continued to shout and yell and swear at basically everything around him. He twisted his head all over the place as he clearly tried to deal with the pain he was feeling in his face, and Peter eventually spotted a small trickle of blood underneath the hand that was protecting Flash's nose.

M.J.'s fist was still somewhat in the air from how Peter and Ned were holding her, and he could see it bruising a bit on the knuckles that she had clearly used to deck him.

It was a bit chaotic as one was screaming about how he was sure his nose was broken while the other was shouting about how she wanted to throw in a few extra punches so that he could get a taste of his own medicine.

Meanwhile, Erin and Mr. Johnson had quickly jumped in, using their own bodies as a barrier between the two.

Erin crowded around M.J. shouting all sorts of things ranging from if she was injured anywhere that she could not see to why she through punching someone was a good idea.

Mr. Johnson had gotten onto his knees, leaning over Flash as he tried to get him to move his hands so that the teacher could get an idea of how injured he was.

After the strike, the previously cautious crowd became re-energized and swarmed closer, trying to get a good look at the action or at least the aftermath.

"What the hell is going on here?!"

The single sentence had the entire place falling into silence.

Peter was even impressed that other people had even heard the voice since it was so loud. Even he had a bit of trouble hearing it. He, along with most of everyone else, ruined their heads as one to face the large entrance doors that were now wide open.

There, standing in all their glory was the one and only Pepper Potts. Her eyes were wide while the small folder she held in one hand looked like it might fall to the ground from how loosely she held it.

The look of shock and anger was a horrible mix on her beautiful face and once more, Peter felt the rush of shame and embarrassment flood his system.

What was even worse was that it was not  _just_ the C.E.O. of the very building they were in, but it was also the fact that she also had a small entourage with her, making her appearance all the more intimidating and official. Peter sure hoped that it was just usual for her to have a few people hanging around her like that and it was not people she had been planning to have a business meeting with. At least two of the people with her were the familiar faces of Happy Hogan and Maria Hill.

Either way, Pepper's very presence seemed to be the breath of fresh air that was needed for as soon as her voice carried throughout the room and made her first steps towards the crowd, the employees began leaving by the dozens.

Their heads were down as though they were kids being scolded for stealing a treat. People wearing badges of all colors flew by her as they made their way out with the crowd mentality making those wearing black badges even begin filing out on their own.

Those that dared to remain were not forced to leave the cafeteria but were told to go back to their own business. Pepper's people were easily able to disperse the remnants of the crowd by then and when it was all over, the only people left loitering nearby were all the people from Peter's and M.J.'s tour groups.

By then, Erin had led M.J. a few feet away, letting her compose herself and to calm down. M.J.'s own teacher that was leading her group was also there, apparently trying to get the whole story from her. Mr. Johnson had convinced Flash to at least sit up and show him his face. There was indeed a steady flow escaping from his left nostril while the bridge was already swelling.

"Ms. Potts!" Erin exclaimed in relief after spotting the other woman. "Thank goodness you're here. I've tried my best, believe me but this had clearly grown to be outside my field of expertise. There was just a fight between two students and I just don't know what you would want to be done."

"A fight?" she asked as she eventually looked all around before settling her eyes on both M.J. and Flash. "Yes, I see."

Pepper then gave a sigh as she touched a temple and closed her eyes briefly.

It clearly seemed that she had more on her plate and did not want to even think about dealing with something like an actual fight that had broken out on the property.

And then, another voice spoke up. It was both anticipated ever since Peter stepped one foot inside S.I. today and yet, it was also unexpected that it would have been now, of all times for him to make his move. Then again, Peter should never be surprised when it came to Tony Stark. The man himself could be an enigma at times and Peter should have learned long ago to expect the unexpected with him.

"Looks like I missed the party. That's always the best part of the event but I guess I have to be the adult now and clean up the mess, don't I?"

Once more, heads swiveled over to the entrance to see Tony standing there all by himself. His hands were casually stuffed into the pockets of his trousers while the classic red tinted sunglasses rested upon his nose.

There were clearly audible gasps from all around Peter when people realized just who it was standing there.

"Tony! Finally. You deal with all this since I already have a headache and I've only been for a couple of minutes."

"Yeah, sure thing, Pep. Just be warned if you let me have my fun with this, you can't come to complaining to me about possible paperwork and or complaints that you might get later down the line."

Pepper was clearly not happy with hearing that as her frown only grew stronger. When it was clear that Tony very much meant what he said, she finally gave another seep sigh before she gave a small nod. "Fine, whatever. Do what you want but make sure it's legal. That is the only thing that will me make come after you so if you don't want that, follow the law, got that?"

Tony gave his classic smile as he watched Pepper make her way past him with her group right behind her. Right before she could escape him, Peter noticed that he leaned down to give her a peck on the cheek and a nod to Happy which was returned.

When Pepper was finally gone, it was just Tony, Peter, and a whole bunch of students and teachers from Midtown left standing there.

The shock was still quite clear on most faces and while Peter watched Tony happily look around at the scene before him, Peter could only think about how doomed he was in all the possible ways he could think of.

"So then," Tony said as he took a hand out his pocket to casually scratch as his beard with a growing smirk, "How're we gonna clean up this mess?"

**End Chapter Eleven**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Has Tony Stark finally entered the ring? You bet. Chaotic and all over the place chapter? You know it. Fast paced again? Or at least picking up the pace? Perhaps. Am I sorry? When am I not. Hotel? Trivago.
> 
> I hope that this wasn't too much a shift for people, and I hope that you still enjoyed it. As always, let me know what you thought!
> 
> Also, can I do a shameless plug right here if it's not too much of a bother?
> 
> On my FFnet profile, I have a poll at the top of the page. If you have an account, please consider checking it out. It's a new story idea that I might do when this one is finished. It's a MCU crossover. If you can't vote for whatever reason, you can still let me know what you think in a comment to this chapter!


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